It seems that the new team is already showing its magic as Rohan Dennis has won the 2022 Elite Men’s Time Trial at the Australian Road Championships. Showing his new Jumbo-Visma threads, Dennis has secured the elite national title for the fourth time. He got to share the Podium with his long-term rival Luke Durbridge, this is the sixth time that they are sharing the top steps of the podium together.
Rohan Dennis’s victory against Durbridge was quite impressive, he managed to finish at 45:33, this is 1 minute and 33 seconds faster than his arch-rival. Apart from this, Connor Leahy (InForm TMX MAKE) secured third place at the Time Trial.
This rivalry between Dennis and Durbridge is very long, they have fought for the Australian Time Trial a couple of times. Apart from that, they have also shared the top step of the podium together, and now each of them has four titles to their names.
Although Durbridge is the champion of the races back in 2019 and 2020, Dennis was exceptionally motivated this time around. Dennis wanted to take this win for Jumbo-Visma, that is why he shined his green and gold shaped jersey at the podium.
“They put a lot of faith in me,” said Dennis after the Podium Win and Presentation.
To come in and show respect to that and put all my effort in – not that I haven’t every other year – but to really knuckle down on every little detail to perform for them straight away was really important.
The Elite Men’s Time Trial was divided into two laps and had a distance of 37.5 km, the trials started and finished at the Federation University’s Mount Helen campus. The time trial had 200 meters of elevation and sharp and dangerous turns. The race was quite impressive, it was visible from the get-go that Dennis would be the man to win the time trial.
#RoadNats22 🥇🥇🥇🥇 Four national elite men ITT titles now in the collection for @JumboVismaRoad‘s new 🇦🇺 powerhouse Rohan Dennis.
📷 Con Chronis pic.twitter.com/0oOGBkSNvl
— AusCycling (@AusCyclingAus) January 12, 2022
He quickly passed the rider that started the trial before him, his performance was similar to the one back in 2018. Another reason for Luke Durbrudge losing the title could be because of the close contact of a COVID-19 case. He still managed to make it to the race, which is impressive by itself.
Related: Rohan Dennis Finally Spills The Beans About Leaving Ineos Grenadiers
The National Titles are going to be a lot more competitive after the Time Trials. The Elite Road Races in Buninyong complete the racing schedule this upcoming Sunday.
Featured Image via Instagram @rohandennis