Time trial win puts Dennis back on course at Giro d'Italia

22.05.2018 23:38

Whatever happens from here, Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) has something tangible to show for his Giro d'Italia, though he is not ready to label his race an unqualified success just yet. The Alps await, and there is again a place in the top 10 overall to be defended.

After a spell in the maglia rosa during the opening week, Dennis added stage victory in the Rovereto time trial on Tuesday, but he might have been almost as pleased to have moved up to sixth place overall with just five days remaining.

"To be honest, I was hoping I could take more time out of some of the climbers but I'm not going to say no to a lead of two minutes over 10th place, that gives me a bit of a buffer," said Dennis, who lies 5:04 down on the unassailable maglia rosa of Simon Yates. "But the stage win is hard to go past. I would have liked to have two, from Israel and here. But having pink for four or five days, and now a stage win is pretty good so far, I think."

Dennis set off down the start ramp in Trento targeting the time of the day's early pace-setter, Tony Martin, and he cruised through the opening time check after 12 kilometres with a lead of 15 seconds over the German, though the gap tightened considerably by the next check after 25 kilometres.

Come the finishing straight, Dennis believed he had already fallen short of the best mark, only for his radio earpiece to crackle into life with the felicitations of directeur sportif Marco Pinotti. He stopped the clock in 40 minutes flat, to beat Martin by 14 seconds.

"For some reason, I thought Tony had done a 39:40 and I thought I'd lost it but when I got to the finish Pinotti was in my ear screaming, and there was no time on the clock at the finish, which normally means you're the quickest," Dennis said. "Then they confirmed I was quickest and it was a good surprise."