Record-breaker Rohan Dennis wins 1st Tour de France stage in style
UTRECHT, Netherlands – Rohan Dennis won the first stage of the Tour de France in record speed in the individual time trial on Saturday, while defending Tour champion Vincenzo Nibali gained some precious time on his main rivals.
Dennis powered along the 8.6-mile flat and windy urban circuit through cycling-mad Utrecht in 14 minutes, 56 seconds.
“I didn’t expect to go that fast,” the Australian rider said. “I was just thinking ‘16 minutes, 16 minutes’ from what I did in training, and in the end I got a bonus.”
His average speed of 34.4 mph beat the record by British rider Chris Boardman on the 1994 Tour prologue, albeit over a distance twice as short.
“There’s still emotions going on,” said a thrilled Dennis, who previously held the world hour record when covering a distance of 32.6 miles in February.
“The team has done a lot of hard work and it’s paid off. Recons, specific trainings, it’s all come together.”
The last Australian to wear the yellow jersey was Simon Gerrans in 2013.
“I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. I want to hold it for at least one more day,” said Dennis, who took silver in the team pursuit at the 2012 Olympics.
His performance in sweltering heat that hit 97 degrees was even more impressive given that he beat two time-trial world champions.
“I think being Australian and growing up in this heat may have been a bit of an advantage for sure,” he said. “My specific training between 2-5 p.m. gets you used to that. I have been training in (104) degrees to get adapted to those conditions and that was the plan of the team … not to come in blind.”
Three-time world champ Tony Martin trailed five seconds behind in second place, and four-time world champ Fabian Cancellara was six seconds back in third.
“I wanted to win. Any other result is a bad one,” Martin said.
“I feel that I couldn’t handle the heat, especially in the second half where I felt weaker.”
Nibali, who tried to counter the searing heat by warming up with ice cubes strapped to his back, finished 43 seconds behind Dennis in 22nd place.
He was seven seconds ahead of 2013 Tour champ Chris Froome (39th), 15 seconds up on two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador (46th), and 18 seconds ahead of Nairo Quintana (57th).