Rohan Dennis powers to bronze in the individual time-trial at Fuji International Speedway on Wednesday. Photo: Getty
Australian cycling star Rohan Dennis has had to settle for bronze in his signature event, the individual time-trial.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic dominated the 44.2-kilometre event on Wednesday, clocking 55 minutes 4.19 seconds.
Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin backed up compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten’s gold medal earlier in the day when he won silver in 56:05.58.
Dennis, the 2018 and ’19 world champion in the time-trial, bypassed last Saturday’s road race to focus on this event.
Nine years after winning 🥈 on the track in the Mens 4000m Team Pursuit at London 2012, 3x Olympian Rohan Dennis is back on the Olympic dais, this time on the road 🥉
Congratulations Rohan! #TokyoTogether #CyclingRoad @AusCyclingTeam pic.twitter.com/LpOlU6qSB9
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 28, 2021
He clocked 56 minutes 08.09 seconds for the bronze medal.
It is some redemption for the Rio Olympics, when he was on the way to a likely silver medal when an aerobar extension snapped and he finished fifth.
Dennis also won silver on the track at the 2012 Olympics in the team pursuit.
Compatriot Richie Porte had a bad day and was 28th with 1:00:53.67.
Earlier on Wednesday, Australian Grace Brown finished fourth behind The Netherlands’ Annemiek van Vleuten and compatriot Sarah Gigante was 11th.
-AAP