Dennis Tops Time Trial in Olympia's Tour
South Australian Rohan Dennis posted the top time as Jayco-AIS filled four of the top eight places in the time trial fifth stage of the Olympia's Tour in the Netherlands.
Dennis clocked 16:26 for the 11.8 kilometre course in Reuver with Jayco-AIS riders Glenn O'Shea (16:57) and Damien Howson (17:03) placing third and fourth respectively
The stage win was welcome but unfortunately for the team, the eighth place of Michael Freiberg (17:09), wasn't enough to defend his overnight Tour lead. He left the start ramp with a one second lead over Dutch rider Dylan van Baarle but the Rabobank rider was 20 seconds quicker over the distance, riding home with the second fastest time of the day (16:49) to put him in the white leader's jersey by 19 seconds over Freiberg.
Victorian Steele von Hoff, riding with the Chipotle development team, led home a bunch sprint to win the afternoon's 96 kilometre final stage which had no impact on the general classification.
Freiberg collected a three second bonus for winning the only intermediate sprint of the stage and was fifth across the line but van Baarle finished in the same group to win the 60th edition of the tour by 16 seconds.
"Finished 2nd on GC at Olympia's tour. I lost it in the TT and let the boys down," tweeted a disappointed Freiberg after the final stage. "Not going to let it happen again."
Dennis, who is the reigning Australian Under 23 road race and time trial champion and a key member of the Australian Cyclones' track squad, was fourth overall just three seconds behind German Christophe Pfingsten (Team de Rijke) and 22 seconds adrift of the winner.
"It would have been better if I came home with the jersey but I had too much time to catch up," said Dennis referring to the 34 seconds he conceded to his rivals in the 204 kilometre fourth stage. "Dylan (van Baarle) deserves to win especially after a big day yesterday.
"They (Rabobank) were just too strong this week but we (Jayco-AIS) had a big crack and we're still second overall so can't be too unhappy with that."
O'Shea ended the Tour in 29th place with Howson 83rd. von Hoff was 22nd overall.
Cycling Australia