Rio 2016 Olympics accidents: Australian cycling team takes another hit, Rohan Dennis ends in 5th place

Mel Hoskins's spill during a training for Australia’s cycling team was not the first accident to hit the country’s delegation to the Rio 2016 Olympics. On Thursday, male cyclist Rohan Dennis was on the last kilometres of the 54.5-kilometre course when his bike caused him trouble and cost him a potential medal.

Dennis recalls hearing a crack while speeding so he pulled up a bit to stabilise his body. But the rider heard his bike’s handle bar extension crack, reports Sydney Morning Herald.

He attributes the damage to the bumpy road, among other factors. “When you're pulling that hard on the handlebars trying to get everything out of it, a few bumps is maybe a perfect combination maybe and I just cracked it. These things are super strong, but when one little fault happens things break pretty easily,” Dennis says.

He knew that with that kind of bike, Dennis could not make it to the finish line so he called a car to request for a replacement bike. The accident and change cost Dennis up to 30 seconds, notes the Guardian.

Among the 37 male bikers who cycled through the rain-drenched trial circuit in Grumari, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland came in first, followed by Tom Doulin of The Netherlands. With his one hour, 13 minutes and 25 seconds ride, Dennis could have had the silver medal since Doulin was just 23 seconds ahead of him.

But Dennis says he is not disappointed in spite of his 5^th place finish for the trial run. “I can still be proud of how I rode, even after the mechanical and changing the bike,” he states.

It was not just Dennis who was sidelined, teammate Richie Porte cracked a shoulder blade that resulted in Porte being pulled out from the shorter event on Wednesday.

VIDEO: Richie Porte reflects on heart-breaking injury