On his fourth attempt, Rohan Dennis can finally call himself a national time trial champion. Starting one minute ahead of defending champion Richie Porte, Dennis had the quickest time at the mid-way intermediate time check over his BMC teammate and increased his advantage on the return to claim the Australian title in a time of 51:13 minutes, 38 seconds ahead of Porte, and 1:34 minutes ahead of Sean Lake (Avanti).
Dennis was second in his first year of racing elite, was thrown from his bike when a mini-tornado struck in 2014 and collected another silver medal 12-months ago having started as the outright favourite.
"It's obviously always a dream to win Aussie nationals," Dennis said of his commanding victory. "I've won under 23 and now I have a senior medal and to be able to wear the green and gold in every time trial is a true honour. Obviously, Sunday's still to come and there is still a jersey so we can't celebrate tonight but we can have a small celebration and say 'job well done' for Thursday.
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"[It's the] Monkey off the back now in seniors you could say now, it's a good day"
Dennis' Tour de France victory last July opened the floodgates for the 25-year-old who has started to turn near misses against the clock into victories. Last year Dennis had the quickest time at the half-way point but his pacing was off and a strong second half from Porte meant that Dennis missed the title by seven seconds. 2016 was a different story with Dennis building on his advantage from the intermediate point to ensure a comfortable victory with just Porte within 90 seconds of his time.
The two-time under 23 time trial champion credited his successful hour record attempt last February for helping him with pacing and remaining focused throughout the ride.
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