Rohan's career Dennis It's like a gymkhana, full of twists and turns. The last one dates back to a few weeks ago: the Australian had just won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games (opening photo Getty Images) and Birmingham was not just any victory.
«I have always loved everything related to the “Games” – he said – I had already climbed onto the podium in 2014 and had also won a medal at the Olympics, but I had never won gold in a multi-sport event and for me it has a precious value».
A few days later, Dennis deserted the road race, coming hospitalized because he was suffering from an unspecified illness. Then, as yesterday's news, the start of the Return, as a column for the Jumbo Visma serving Roglic in his hunt for a poker and who led the team to victory in the opening team time trial.
A failed swimmer
It's mind-blowing, but if you look closely, it's always been like this, right from the start. Besides, Rohan didn't even want to be a cyclist. As a kid, his idol was Kieren. Perkins, double gold in the 1.500 freestyle swimming. She absolutely wanted to follow in his footsteps, but at school they had different opinions. You should know that every Australian child is subjected to Talent Identification Program, in which through a series of tests it is established which sporting discipline is most suitable and in his case it was cycling. Rohan, naturally wary, was reluctant to accept change. "Oh well, I'll train, and it'll be good for swimming," he thought. After three months, he was so engrossed that he no longer thought about swimming...
Dennis doesn't have an easy character, he admits it himself. One day he sincerely admitted: «I really don't know how my girlfriend can stay by my side. When I lose, when even the smallest thing doesn't go the way I want it to, I get down and she would kill me… She always reminds me of everything I've won, everything I've done, she makes me see the other side of the scale." After all, it's not just any woman, but Melissa. hoskins, world gold with the quartet in 2015.
He hates saying, "I told you so..."
Much of his evolution has depended and still depends on his environment. Truth be told, there hasn't been one that has adapted to him like a tailor-made suit; he's always found something that ultimately corrodes relationships. One day, interviewed by Procycling, he offered an explanation for all this: "It's not the big problems that bother me, but the little things, those that with a little attention and care you would avoid. I can't stand saying "I told you so", but many times I am not listened to and then the problems come to light."
Many have tried to tell him to take everything more lightly, but that's not like him: «I can't get around things, if there is a problem I have to solve it and I bang my head against the wall until I have done it, everything else takes a back seat».
The Mysterious Tour 2019
A classic example is what happened at the 2019 Tour. At the time, Dennis was riding for Bahrain-Merida. He was focusing everything on the 13th stage, the Pau time trial, which is why he also avoided looking at the overall standings, so as not to waste energy. The day before, at the Toulouse-Bagneres de Bigorre, he reached kilometer number 80, got off his bike and got into the team car. Not a word, not an explanation. To the sports directors who asked, he replied tersely: "I don't want to talk about it." He reached the bus at the finish line, got in, and burst into tears. Journalists besieged the bus, demanding explanations, but no one had one. The only official response was a laconic statement in which, in addition to the usual thanks, Dennis said that withdrawing was the right thing to do because he wasn't feeling his best.
In this regard it is very interesting to reread the account of those difficult weeks that the psychologist David Spindler told a Cycling tipsSpindler, a highly experienced professional cyclist, picked him up in Pau and took him back to Andorra, where he began working closely with him. First of all, I deleted his social media, because he used to read the comments and get depressed by the negative ones. Then he pushed him to live more deeply in the family.
A family of which he also became a part for two weeks: he helped Melissa with the housework and with caring for the baby and at the same time listened to her outbursts. He even got on his scooter to follow his training and often made him do it behind the engines: «He had to feel the presence of those dearest to him». A job that seemed like a Chinese drop, enough to scratch his distrust and his pessimism, Until one day he woke up with a smile. Ten days later he would win the world title...
Harsh words for Ineos
The separation from the team was inevitable and imminent, coming a couple of months later, at the end of the World Championships. "It wasn't the right environment for me, and my discomfort was also affecting my family situation, which was intolerable. I had to change."
With the Ineos Grenadiers, where he remained for a good three years, things didn't go much differently, even if his words at the time of his farewell didn't reveal any rancor. But there was criticism, and not even mild criticism.
«Yes, I'm a little content with where they were and what they did. They've been at the top for a good decade and in some ways have been resting on their laurels a bit. Uae Team Emirates and Jumbo Visma have meanwhile built their castle brick by brickIn the last two years, there were some talented riders, but people wondered why they weren't winning like before. But riders aren't enough. For years, Ineos was at the top of the technological pyramid, but Now we have the upper hand at Jumbo Visma, I've never been in a team like this». How long will he think this way?
