Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) overcame his disappointment at having to abandon the Giro d'Italia last month – and some self-described lacklustre training ever since – to take the stage 1 win Saturday at the Tour de Suisse.
Dennis sailed over the 6km test in Cham in 6:24, eight second better than teammate Stefan Kung in second and nine seconds ahead of third-placed Matthias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo). Team Sunweb's Michael Matthews was fourth, also nine seconds in arrears. Matthews' teammate Tom Dumoulin, fresh off his overall win at the Giro, was fifth, also nine seconds back.
"To be leading the race in my first race back, especially a UCI WorldTour race, is quite special," Dennis said. "I've been struggling a bit in training since I had to pull out of the Giro d'Italia, but I think today was just my day.
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"I was a little bit mentally knocked down after the Giro d'Italia," Dennis added. "It was a massive goal for me this year. I put a lot of work into it, even from July last year, or August after the Rio Olympics. In the end, things like that happen. I had to move on and try to rebuild. Training hasn't been going too well, so today was a little bit of a surprise. Once you get out there you do what you have to do and hope for the best."
Dennis saw his Giro ambitions fade following a crash during stage 2 and bouts with headaches, nausea and fatigue that caused him to quit during stage 4. The 27-year-old Australian underwent tests that cleared him to train as he fights for a spot on BMC's Tour de France team in support of Richie Porte.
Dennis did himself some favours in that regard on Saturday, although he admitted he thought it would be Kung who took top honours in the short race against the clock.
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