Rohan Dennis starts the 2019 Tour Down Under as the time trial world champion – not that he's going to get the opportunity to wear the rainbow stripes during the race, with no TT stages on the route. But winning the Worlds was, the South Australian tells Cyclingnews, a monkey off his back.
"It proved that I could do it. I always knew that I could, but you still have that doubt – even if it's only half a per cent – as to whether it's actually ever going to happen," Dennis says. "I knew I had the physiology and the mentality to do it, but yeah – it was just nice to get it done."
Had Dennis and his wife – former pro rider Melissa Hoskins – had their son any earlier, it may have been a very different story. He was born just two-and-a-half weeks after Dennis won the world title, which had given him a few sleepless nights ahead of time.
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"I was a little bit nervous because the doctors were saying that he might come early," Dennis admits. "I was just thinking, 'Please don't come too early.'"
Back home in Australia for Christmas, Dennis had the opportunity to wear his new rainbow skinsuit for the first time at the national championships in Ballarat, Victoria, in early January. Having moved teams across the off-season – from BMC Racing to Bahrain-Merida – having a first competitive hit-out with new kit and equipment in the sort of heat he might expect to experience at next week's Tour Down Under was important.
That Dennis was unable to defend his national time trial title and take a fourth straight title was, he says, not overly disappointing. But he says he was surprised by the margin – just over 20 seconds on a 40.9km course – that Mitchelton-Scott's TT specialist Luke Durbridge beat him by.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/rohan-dennis-a-monkey-off-my-back
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