Worlds success Dennis' perfect tonic for Olympic heartbreak

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Australian Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) has told Cyclingnews that claiming a medal in the World Championships in Doha next month would go some way to making up for missing out a medal at the Olympics in Rio.

Dennis was well on course for a medal in the Olympic time trial, having left the Tour de France early in July in order to prepare for the Games. However his bars broke towards the back end of the time trial and he was forced to change bikes. That time loss pushed him down to fifth behind winner Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) and eight seconds off Chris Froome (Great Britain) in bronze.

"I should have got silver in Rio," Dennis told Cyclingnews at the Tour of Britain where he impressively won stage 7b with a late attack.

"I was there to win gold and it would have been nice to have come away with at least a medal but it's not the end of the world and I'll move forward. If I do get a medal or win in Doha I will be somewhat happier with the season, that's for sure."

Dennis build up to the Worlds is somewhat undefined. Like the rest of the pro peloton he is unsure as to whether he will be called on to race the team time trial event. BMC Racing, and Dennis, are the defending champions but all the WorldTour teams were set to boycott the event. Cyclingnews has learned that eight WorldTour teams may still ride but the names of those squads is still unknown.

"To be honest I don't even know," Dennis said when asked if the team time trial is still up in the air, "And I'm still asking questions if we're doing it or not.

"Ideally I'd like to know so I don't have to train for it and then a week out am told I'm not going, or vice versa. Ideally, for the individual I'll be in the team. That's one race I'd like to make up for what happened in Rio in one sense."