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Rohan Dennis “in a much better place mentally” after Team Ineos move

World TT champ says switch eases pressure by removing Grand Tour ambitions

World time trial champion Rohan Dennis has said that he is “in a much better place mentally” following his close-season "dream" move to Team Ineos, partly due to the removal of the pressure to aim for a high overall place in Grand Tours.

Earlier this month, the 29-year-old spoke to new team-mates Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe for their Watts Occurring podcast and told them that his abrupt departure from the Tour de France on the eve of an individual time trial he was one of the favourites to win was due to the mental struggles he had been facing.

> Rohan Dennis says ‘mental struggles’ led him to abandon Tour de France

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald this week, the Australian, who is currently racing at the Tour Down Under which is based in and around his home city of Adelaide, described his move to Team Ineos as a “turning point” and said he is now “in a much better place mentally and that's the main thing.

“Family, friends have really noticed the change since December so it's been a very positive move and I'm really keen to keep it going that way as well.”

Team Ineos have won six of the past seven editions of the Tour de France through Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal, and also have reigning Giro d’Italia champion Richard Carapaz on their roster.

Dennis admitted that the wealth of Grand Tour contenders in his new team had made him reassess his own goals.”

“If I'm ever going to win a Grand Tour, or podium, or get a good result … for GC I'm in the right place,” he said. “I just don't think that's what I really want to go down and try and do any more.

“It's a different kind of beast to say the least. Time trialers are quite special in themselves but GC riders for Grand Tour is, it's completely different mindset and not just on the bike but also off the bike, having to pretty well sacrifice 99.9 per cent of having a life.

“You have to be very structured with absolutely everything, from eating, sleeping to be winning something like the Tour de France. I just ended up not finding that enjoyable at all.

"I enjoy what I'm doing and helping other guys try and achieve the Grand Tour success instead."

Abandoning the Tour de France midway through Stage 12 and then riding a bike from his former BMC team as he successfully defended his world time trial championship in Harrogate in September led to his sacking by Bahrain-Merida the following month.

He claimed that a number of actions taken by his former team, which he is now suing for wrongful dismissal, had affected his routine in what he believes was a campaign calculated to get him to seek a move elsewhere, and said the situation had been detrimental to his relationship with his wife.

"Personal family reasons between the person I was becoming due to the situations I was put under, or the environment that I was in, that was causing me to be, let's just say, not a good or a happy person to be around," Dennis said.

"That environment was [the] team environment. It was snowballing, it was getting worse and in the end I didn't want to be a statistic of a sportsperson who was potentially going to be divorced."

He said that issues with his former team included "accidents that were made that were somewhat calculated to hit at certain times of days, to affect either sleep or training, times of the week so nothing could be done over the weekend – that was a favourite move.

"I'm not going to go too deep into it but, yeah, at that point I still was an asset but there were obviously very clear incentives to get me to move on and I'm not the person to lie down and let someone generally take advantage of me in any way, shape or form. It was a recipe for disaster."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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10 comments

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Xenophon2 | 4 years ago
1 like

I can sympathize with the eating disorder coming from perfectionism and trying to be in as good a shape as possible, having gotten close to that point myself a long time ago.  But reading the article here he sounds like seriously high maintenance, to the point of wondering whether the effort/benefit ratio is still ok.  Also a touch paranoid perhaps.  At least, to the unbiased reader that I think I am, Bahrain Merida sacking him after he first abandoned them in the tour, then raced on a competing firm's bike...doesn't sound excessive to me.  To then take them to court for unfair dismissal....I'd rather be the lawyer working for the other side.  But who knows, it's only an article, not even the Disney version of events.

Avatar
Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
1 like

I'm a bit more sympathetic from a mental/health issues perspective to his (again, very candid) discussion of disordered eating surrounding his GC aspirations. This sounds a bit more like 'they pissed me about until I had a Buckaroo moment.'

 

Avatar
kil0ran | 4 years ago
4 likes

On the one hand, he sounds like a high maintenance snowflake, on the other, well, it's Bahrain Merida. I'm with Rohan - and don't underestimate the strength he's shown to be so open about his mental health. Sportsmen don't, Aussie males don't, so it's a big deal for a multiple world champion to do so.

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jollygoodvelo replied to kil0ran | 4 years ago
0 likes

kil0ran wrote:

On the one hand, he sounds like a high maintenance snowflake, on the other, well, it's Bahrain Merida. I'm with Rohan - and don't underestimate the strength he's shown to be so open about his mental health. Sportsmen don't, Aussie males don't, so it's a big deal for a multiple world champion to do so.

Well said.  He clearly is a fruitcake, is open about it, but he's a fruitcake who was far and away the best TTer at last year's pretty difficult Worlds and deserves respect.

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Organon replied to jollygoodvelo | 4 years ago
0 likes

jollygoodvelo wrote:

Well said.  He clearly is a fruitcake, is open about it, but he's a fruitcake who was far and away the best TTer at last year's pretty difficult Worlds and deserves respect.

Fruitcake all year round, not just for Christmas!

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RobD | 4 years ago
0 likes

I hope some of the details of what his team were up to come to light, if they have been playing games to get him to leave then that's a bit harsh regardless of how difficult Rohan can be to deal with or not.

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HarrogateSpa | 4 years ago
2 likes

Ineos seems to be the team road.cc supports, with lots of articles about them and none on any other pro cycling teams.

Ilkley Moor had its most extensive fires ever in 2019. The hottest ever UK temperature was recorded at Cambridge Botanical Gardens in the summer. We've got a problem.

I believe we've reached the point where fossil fuel companies actively profiting from destroying Earth's habitable climate have to be shunned and made socially unacceptable, even if their activities aren't yet illegal.

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Jetmans Dad replied to HarrogateSpa | 4 years ago
4 likes

HarrogateSpa wrote:

Ineos seems to be the team road.cc supports, with lots of articles about them and none on any other pro cycling teams.

I don't think there is anything inherently weird about a British website focussing a lot of its attention on a British team within which a big chunk of British interest in the major races resides. 

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peted76 replied to HarrogateSpa | 4 years ago
1 like

HarrogateSpa wrote:

Ilkley Moor had its most extensive fires ever in 2019. The hottest ever UK temperature was recorded at Cambridge Botanical Gardens in the summer. We've got a problem.

I believe we've reached the point where fossil fuel companies actively profiting from destroying Earth's habitable climate have to be shunned and made socially unacceptable, even if their activities aren't yet illegal.

Okay.

Avatar
RobD replied to HarrogateSpa | 4 years ago
0 likes

HarrogateSpa wrote:

Ineos seems to be the team road.cc supports, with lots of articles about them and none on any other pro cycling teams.

Ilkley Moor had its most extensive fires ever in 2019. The hottest ever UK temperature was recorded at Cambridge Botanical Gardens in the summer. We've got a problem.

I believe we've reached the point where fossil fuel companies actively profiting from destroying Earth's habitable climate have to be shunned and made socially unacceptable, even if their activities aren't yet illegal.

I get your point, but I would actually argue that by sponsoring the team, Ineos have opened themselves up to a greater deal of criticism and scrutiny than otherwise would have been the case. They're now a slightly more recognisable household name than just a company that commited environmentalists would likely be aware of.

I agree that they should be held accountable, just as many other industries (such as the fashion industry) should, but until people stop wanting products for the cheapest price they can get them for then it's unlikely to improve.

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