Tour de Suisse: Rohan Dennis wins opening time trial
15 June 2019 03:49
Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) won stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse, a 9.5km time trial in Langnau im Emmental. The time trial world champion edged out Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) by fractions of a second to take his first victory in the rainbow stripes. Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) took third, two seconds down. Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) put in a strong ride as the final preparation race for his Tour de France defence got under way. The Welshman was the fastest of the GC men, putting in a time of 11:07. Teammate Egan Bernal, probably Thomas’ greatest rival in the coming week, finished six seconds further back. Elsewhere, Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) put in a solid ride to kick off his first stage race since iliac artery surgery. The Italian’s time of 11:20 saw him finish inside the top 40.ADVERTISEMENT “I’m pretty happy it’s been a long time between wins, since sept last year so to get that monkey off my back is a good feeling,” said Dennis after the stage. “It installs a little bit more confidence in my ability to win no matter what equipment I’m on. “It’s not the equipment that has caused me not to win over the last six months [since my move to Bahrain] and I proved that today. It’s really a step forward and we’re only going in one direction from here.” “I hope so [that there’s more to come]. There’s still the rest of the week and the time trial later in the week is a goal of mine. And then there’s the Tour de France. I’m looking forward to it.” How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article
