Giro d'Italia - Rohan Dennis: I was just beaten by the better guy
May 04 2018 10:33 pm CET
Photo of Rohan Dennis © Mary Cárdenas / CyclingPub.com
Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing Team missed out on the stage win and the Pink Jersey by just two seconds on the opening day of the Giro d'Italia.
The Australian sat on the hot-seat for a large part of the day but had no choice but to applaud when defending champion Tom Dumoulin of Sunweb beat his time by two seconds.
"It was technical. It was hard to get a rhythm. It was challenging. I would have liked the roads to be a bit smoother but you can't have everything," Dennis had said shortly after finishing his race, but well before the arrival of Dumoulin.
A few hours later, with Dumoulin having taken first place, Dennis was still confident that he had done what he needed to do.
"I was pretty relaxed until probably the last half hour of the race. I knew Tom was going to be the big rival today and he was. But there were another few riders I was surprised by, like Victor Campenaerts.
"I did everything I could. There is nothing I could do better today so I was just beaten by the better guy."
Directeur Sportif Max Sciandri also believes that Dennis did everything he could to take the win in Jerusalem. "Rohan did a fantastic ride. I think everything was executed to perfection. He was not beaten by the odd guy. There's nothing you can do," he said.
"The Giro is long, we got a lot of stages to come. Rohan's got another great time trial. That was the first thing he told me. He's looking ahead so let's look forward."
Check out our 101st Giro d'Italia Race Guide here.
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDS