News Round-up: Rohan Dennis nears the end of his career

Australian may only have one race left as we bring you the racing results from around the globe

Updated 11:40, Friday 8th September 2023. Published 19:00, Friday 8th September 2023

Daniel Benson

Editor in Chief

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Rohan Dennis produced an impressive ride in the World Championships but was undone by a late crash

Rohan Dennis in Canada for Jumbo-Visma but does not take to the start of the GP de Québec

For the final time of his 16-year career, Jumbo-Visma's Rohan Dennis travelled to a race earlier this week, but in the end, he did not set off alongside the rest of the peloton at the start of the GP de Québec. Going down as a DNS in the results page, questions now surface over whether the Australian will ride another race before his retirement.

The 33-year-old announced his impending retirement earlier this year, with the World Championships time trial in Stirling, Scotland, pinpointed as one final major target for Dennis, but his podium attempt was ultimately scuppered by a crash as he eyed up the final corner. Dennis remounted his bike and impressively still achieved seventh place by the finish, but the implications of his crash may have scuppered his goodbye to the sport.

"We greatly appreciate the fact that he has travelled," Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Frans Maassen told Wielerflits. 'It is a sign of the pro who is Rohan, we do not have many available riders during this period, mainly because of the many races [Tour of Britain, Vuelta a España, Canadian Classics]."

"Rohan settles completely in the service of the squad here. He didn't hesitate for a moment and was ready to help the team because the situation asked for that. He deserved a nicer goodbye, but it's no different.”

Reporting on the ground in Canada, Velo's Sadhbh O'Shea posted on X that Dennis was spotted with what appeared to be a broken collarbone, no doubt suffered in the time trial crash. GCN's very own man on the ground, Logan Jones-Wilkins, speculated that Dennis may just be in Canada to 'make up the numbers' for Jumbo-Visma, and the team's own social post throws more doubt over his final race.

Despite missing Friday's GP de Québec, Dennis remains on the startlist for Sunday's GP de Montréal, but Jumbo-Visma's goodbye post to Dennis on X struck a peculiar note.

"In Canada, it will be the last time that the name of Rohan will be on the list of participants. Thank you, Rohan," wrote the Jumbo-Visma social team. It is odd that they note his appearance on the startlist, rather than looking forward to his actual participation in the races.

With Dennis a DNS on Friday, it would not be a surprise to see him also skip the GP de Montréal on Sunday - given his injury - which would bring the curtain down on a lengthy career that has seen the time trial specialist win stages in all three Grand Tours, as well as holding the leader's jersey in each of them.

The two-time world time trial champion also won his home Tour Down Under in 2015 and claimed a bronze medal in the ITT event at the Tokyo Olympic Games. His time with Jumbo-Visma has not been as successful as he would have wished, but Dennis helped teammate Primož Roglič win the Giro d'Italia earlier this year.

Jumbo-Visma annihilates the competition at the Vuelta a España

Jonas Vingegaard took his first Vuelta a España stage victory in style

Complete and utter annihilation. It’s the only way to describe Jumbo-Visma's performance on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España with the Dutch team going 1-2-3 on the Queen stage and holding the top three positions overall after Jonas Vingegaard won on the Tourmalet ahead of race leader Sepp Kuss and Primož Roglič.

The trio were head and shoulders ahead of the rest throughout the stage and at times had the luxury of toying with the opposition as Enric Mas (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) battled to save their GC aspirations.

While the Jumbo team had cause to celebrate an emphatic performance, it was a day to forget for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) who lost any hope of defending his title after losing ground on the first major climb of the day. The Belgian came over the line over 27 minutes down on Vingegaard, with his GC hopes dead in the water.

Remco Evenepoel too disappointed to talk after Vuelta a España defence crumbles

Remco Evenepoel wipes the sweat from his brow at the end of a torrid first venture into the French Pyrenees

2022 Vuelta a España champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) cut a disconsolate figure at the finish of stage 13 after he crawled over the line over 27 minutes on winner Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).

Evenepoel came into the toughest stage of this year’s race sitting fourth overall but within striking distance of the red jersey he won last year. However, the Belgian’s title defence fell apart on the second climb of the Col d'Aubisque when he was distanced by the majority of his GC rivals.

Evenepoel crested the climb several minutes down but by the finish line atop the Tourmalet, the time trial world champion’s race had virtually ended with the Soudal rider dropping 16 places and sitting close to 30 minutes down on race leader Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma).

According to reports Evenepoel entered the team bus without speaking to any media. HNL spoke to his teammate Pieter Serry, who said: “If you have a bad day in such a stage, it becomes difficult. Remco didn't say much to us. Just sorry.”

Charlotte Kool takes second stage win at Simac Ladies Tour

dsm-firmenich celebrate their efforts on stage 3 of the Simac Ladies Tour

Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich) claimed her second victory on stage 3 of the Simac Ladies Tour. The Dutch rider edged out Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) and Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) in the sprint finish. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx) retained her slim two-second lead in the overall standings.

“It was well worth the effort. It was really warm and we had a slow start to the race, and we thought that it’s not our job to do the chasing, and that really turned out well,” said Kool.

“Normally we do the job [of chasing], but we didn’t have the yellow jersey anymore. So it was not up to us to chase, it was time for someone else to do the chasing. Everyone was fresh in the final, and as you see what kind of lead out Franziska Koch did, and I made sure I was not locked in. If I can do my sprint, I know that I’m really fast and today I could just do my sprint, and it turned out really well."

Danny van Poppel ends Jumbo-Visma dominance at Tour of Britain

Danny van Poppel had been the rider who had pushed Jumbo-Visma the closest in the opening five stages

Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) powered to the win on stage 6 of the Tour of Britain, edging out Ethan Vernon (Great Britain) in a tightly contested sprint into Harlow. Tord Gudmestad (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) finished third.

Van Poppel avoided several late crashes inside the final 20km and then came from behind in a messy and chaotic sprint after Jumbo-Visma saw their train hijacked by several rival teams in the closing stages. The Dutch team had won five straight stages in the race, with Van Poppel becoming the first non-Jumbo rider to raise his arms in victory during this year's race.