Vuelta a España - Rohan Dennis about Red Jersey: I take all the credit while it was actually a team effort
Aug 20 2017 02:05 am CET
Photo of Rohan Dennis © Mary Cárdenas / CyclingPub.com
Australian rider Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing Team is the first leader of the 2017 Vuelta a España after helping his team win the opening time trial in Nimes, France.
BMC cruised to victory on the very technical course, with Dennis crossing the line first to take the Red Jersey.
"It was a hard course," he said. "Technical at the start and you really had to figure out whether it was better to finish with nine or to drop a few. We tested everything. We tested strength, technique and speed."
Dennis does not believe that this start should be seen as a set-up for further GC ambitions. £I'm not too worried about the GC in this grand tour. My goals were always the Giro for the GC and at the Vuelta trying to pick up a few stages and testing ourselves in the mountains against some of the GC guys.
"Hopefully we can come away with a couple of stages and hopefully this was the first one."
BMC's victory seemed straight forward although Dennis did fear a late disappointment with Chris Froome's Team Sky coming in after them.
"We were a little bit nervous when Sky came in and I thought that we had lost it almost on the line, but we came off as the strongest team and we executed it perfectly."
Dennis is no newcomer to leader's jerseys in a grand tour but believes that this is a different situation from when he wore Yellow in the Tour.
"It feels great. Obviously it's a different feeling because I feel it's an achievement but at the same time the whole team won and I'm the only one that gets to wear it. That's the only downfall I think to me wearing the Red Jersey compared to the Yellow. I take all the credit while it was actually a team effort."
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