Rohan Dennis was in the yellow jersey and the big ring when Richie Porte’s tempo shifted abruptly from allegro to presto. A little over two kilometres separated him from the summit of Valmorel and the finish of stage 5 of the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné, and it was no surprise to see the neo-professional swing off to the left-hand side of the road.
Yet even as the race’s leading players readied themselves in Porte’s slipstream – Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde were all in the Alps to run through the scales ahead of the main event in July – Dennis was of no mind to go quietly. Still grinding his big ring, he hauled himself from the saddle to clasp the wheel of the passing Bart De Clerq, the last man in the leading group.
In time, the ensemble of Tour de France contenders would hit notes that Dennis simply could not reach, but the neo-professional continued to trash a mammoth gear all the way to the line, labouring under the misapprehension that the road flattened out nearer the top.
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“I put it in the big ring and thought I could suffer through a kilometre before it went flat, but it didn’t. But once you go big, if you change down a gear, you’re dead,” Dennis tells Cyclingnews, wincing at the memory. “Everybody was giving me a bit of stick, asking what the hell I was doing pushing 60rpm cadence. Well, I was a neo-pro and these guys were winning the Tour de France. I needed to do something.”
Dennis would reach the finish 59 seconds down on Froome and surrender the yellow jersey he had claimed after the previous day’s time trial, but for a 23-year-old, it was quite a calling card. His talent was raw, but his character obvious. Dennis survived three more stages to complete the race in 8th place overall, seemingly singling himself out as a future Grand Tour contender in the process.
On the back of that Dauphiné display, however, the date with destiny was brought forward, and Dennis would endure a chastening Tour debut. “That Dauphiné was a big confidence boost but I got a reality check two weeks later when I started the Tour,” Dennis says. “It was just a massive hit straightaway – ‘Good luck, Rohan. Well done. You thought you were good, this is what’s really good.’”
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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/dennis-sometimes-i-just-have-to-take-on-board-what-other-people-say
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