Dennis takes time trial title

AUSTRALIAN Rohan Dennis successfully defended his time trial world title at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire as Alex Dowsett took a strong fifth place for Great Britain.

Dennis completed the 54km course from Northallerton to Harrogate in a time of one hour five minutes and five seconds to win by one minute and eight seconds from Belgian wonderkid Remco Evenepoel, with Italy’s Filippo Ganna third.

“It’s the biggest win of my career to be honest with you,” Dennis said. “It’s been tough, but all the hard work and all the hard times have been worth it, so I’m very very happy.”

Dowsett, the six-time British national time trial champion, finished two minutes and one second off Dennis’ time, with his top-10 finish earning Great Britain a second time trial place at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Dennis was competing for the first time since he dramatically abandoned the Tour de France on the eve of the stage 13 time trial stage in July.

As impressive as Dennis’ ride was, Evenepoel’s performance was every bit as notable.

The 19-year-old once looked set for stardom as a footballer, coming through the academies of Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven and playing for Belgium youth.

Having switched to two wheels because he had “more fun”, he won the junior road race and time trial at last year’s World Championships in Innsbruck and has skipped the under-23 category to compete with the elite this year.

“I surprised myself,” Evenepoel said. “This silver feels more like a gold medal for me. I’ve changed a lot as a person over the last year. I’ve won five races as a pro and become European champion in time-trial.”