Rohan Dennis was reluctant to call himself the favourite for the elite men's individual time trial at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships because he was afraid that saying those words out loud would somehow ruin his chances of capturing the rainbow jersey.
"Don't say that I'm the favourite," the Australian told Cyclingnews after warming up on the course last Saturday. "If we say that I'm the favourite, I'll lose."
The superstition that he had about time trials and the World Championships was ingrained in him due to the fact that he's been a top contender in the discipline over the last four seasons, but had never even stood on the podium in the elite men's event until he secured the world title in Innsbruck, Austria, on Wednesday.
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"I've never won a world title, and I haven't been on the podium, either – mostly because of luck issues: mechanicals, crashes, bikes breaking. It's those issues that have caused me not to be on the podium," he said earlier in the week.
Outside of the World Championships, Dennis' palmarès included individual time trial victories in stages at the Tour de France in 2015, and at both the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España this year.
He's won time-trial stages at the Tour of California, USA Pro Challenge, Eneco Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour de Suisse and the Abu Dhabi Tour, along with three elite national titles, and he briefly held the World Hour Record. This year, he won six individual time trials.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/rohan-dennis-world-title-four-years-in-the-making
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