45 Facts About Rohan Dennis

Rohan Dennis won the 2015 Tour Down Under and is a former holder of the Union Cycliste Internationale's hour record, having completed a distance of 52.491 kilometres in 2015.

On 31 December 2023, Rohan Dennis was involved in a fatal incident in which a vehicle he was driving struck and killed his wife, Olympian Melissa Hoskins, outside their home in Adelaide.

In December 2024, Rohan Dennis pleaded guilty to an aggravated charge of creating a likelihood of harm.

Rohan Dennis was born on 28 May 1990 in Adelaide, South Australia, where he grew up.

Rohan Dennis began his career by focusing on the track, and was part of the Australian team that won the team pursuit at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in 2010 and 2011, and took the silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In 2014, Rohan Dennis finished second overall behind Bradley Wiggins at the Tour of California, after placing second to Wiggins in the individual time trial on stage two, before winning the third stage to Mount Diablo.

Rohan Dennis placed second in the Circuit de la Sarthe, and the Commonwealth Games time trial behind England's Alex Dowsett.

Rohan Dennis went on to win the team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships with his new team.

Rohan Dennis started the 2015 season at home in Australia, finishing second at the Australian National Time Trial Championships, before winning a stage on his way to the overall victory at the Tour Down Under.

Rohan Dennis was selected to ride the Tour de France as part of the BMC Racing Team squad supporting Tejay van Garderen.

Rohan Dennis won the opening individual time trial stage, to take the first yellow jersey of the race.

Rohan Dennis won the Sir Hubert Opperman medal and trophy for Australia's best all-round cyclist in 2015.

Rohan Dennis was a contender for a medal in the road time trial at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, but a broken handlebar forced him to change bikes, finishing fifth on the day.

Rohan Dennis won a stage at the Tour of the Alps prior to the Giro d'Italia, however he abandoned the Giro d'Italia on stage four due to headaches and nausea caused by a crash on stage two.

Rohan Dennis returned to racing at the Tour de Suisse, where he won the individual time trials that bookended the race.

Subsequently, at the Vuelta a Espana, Rohan Dennis crossed the line first as part of the BMC Racing Team squad that won the race's opening team time trial, taking the race leader's red jersey and becoming the first Australian to lead the race since Michael Matthews in 2014.

At the Giro d'Italia, Rohan Dennis was narrowly defeated in the opening time trial in Jerusalem by Tom Dumoulin.

Rohan Dennis held the lead as the race returned to Italy, ultimately losing the lead after stage 6, which finished at Mount Etna.

Rohan Dennis went on to win the stage 16 time trial and finished the race in 16th place overall, 56 minutes and 7 seconds down on winner Chris Froome.

Rohan Dennis won the first stage at the Vuelta a Espana to complete his set of winning a stage at the three Grand Tours, and became the fifteenth rider to have won an individual time trial at each Grand Tour.

Rohan Dennis went on to win the stage 16 time trial, and left the Vuelta a Espana immediately after to prepare for the UCI Road World Championships in Austria, winning the time trial title by over a minute ahead of defending champion Dumoulin.

Rohan Dennis helped his BMC Racing Team squad win the bronze medal in the team time trial.

Rohan Dennis made his first start in team colours at the Australian National Time Trial Championships, where he was beaten to the title by Luke Durbridge.

Rohan Dennis rode an unmarked BMC bicycle during the race, rather than his trade Merida machine.

Rohan Dennis filed a complaint against the team with the Union Cycliste Internationale, intimating that he should be paid by the team until the end of his original contract in 2020; the UCI later dismissed the complaint the following summer.

On 9 December 2019, it was announced that Rohan Dennis would be joining Team Ineos for the 2020 season.

Just as he did in 2019, Rohan Dennis finished second to Luke Durbridge in the 2020 Australian National Time Trial Championships, before going on to finish in fourth place overall at the Tour Down Under.

Rohan Dennis was unable to win a third successive time trial title at the UCI Road World Championships, finishing in fifth place.

Rohan Dennis then contested the Giro d'Italia, which was held after the World Championships due to having been postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

Rohan Dennis won the race's Cima Coppi award by being the first to reach the summit of the highest climb in the race, which was the Stelvio Pass.

Rohan Dennis then won the prologue at the Tour de Romandie, holding the race lead for a further two stages thereafter, before a crash on stage three saw him cede the lead.

Rohan Dennis then took his first road medal at the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo, winning a bronze medal in the road time trial, missing out on the silver to Tom Dumoulin by two-and-a-half seconds.

Rohan Dennis's last start of the season was at the Tour of Britain, finishing sixth overall following the victory for the Ineos Grenadiers in the team time trial on stage three.

Rohan Dennis led the Tour de Romandie for four days, before dropping to eighth overall on the final individual time trial stage, having lost more than two minutes to eventual winner Aleksandr Vlasov.

Later in the season, Rohan Dennis won the gold medal in the road time trial at the Commonwealth Games, finishing almost half a minute clear of Fred Wright and Geraint Thomas, the latter having been delayed by a crash.

Rohan Dennis missed the subsequent road race for medical reasons, having been taken to hospital.

At the 2023 Tour Down Under, Rohan Dennis won the second stage in Victor Harbor, making a move inside the final kilometre from a group of five riders that would ultimately hold off the closing group of sprinters.

On 10 February 2023, Rohan Dennis announced his retirement from professional cycling by the end of the racing season.

Rohan Dennis supported general classification victories for Jonas Vingegaard at O Gran Camino and the Tour of the Basque Country, and for Primoz Roglic at the Giro d'Italia.

Rohan Dennis only raced twice in the second half of the 2023 season, finishing seventh in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships, and he failed to finish the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec.

Hoskins gave birth to their first child, a son, later that year, two and a half weeks after Rohan Dennis won his first World Time Trial Championship.

On 31 December 2023, Rohan Dennis was arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care, and endangering life, after he had allegedly fatally injured Hoskins while driving a ute in the Adelaide suburb of Medindie.

Rohan Dennis was released on bail, and appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, in March 2024.

Rohan Dennis's bail was later extended to August 2024, when he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and driving without due care.

Rohan Dennis pleaded guilty in December 2024 to an aggravated charge of creating a likelihood of harm.