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UCI Road World Championships: Aussie Dennis a favourite for Men's ITT

Rohan Dennis could take the ITT rainbow jersey at the Worlds today. (Image: Team Sky)
Roar Guru
11th October, 2016
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Today, the men get their shot at a rainbow jersey over the 40-kilometre individual time trial course.

It’s a route similar to that of both the women and the U23 men, requiring them to suffer in both extreme heat and extreme winds, but with an extra 12 kilometres, starting from the Lusail Sports Complex, the home of the season-opening Qatar Moto GP race.

There’s an extremely technical first five kilometres, with a multitude of 90-degree corners, before the riders head south into the city and onto the course the women covered yesterday.

Last year we saw a major surprise in Vasil Kiriyenka taking the win, ahead of Adriano Malori and Jerome Coppel. Interestingly, three of the major favourites – Tom Dumoulin, Rohan Dennis and Tony Martin – all struggled, showing how difficult it is to peak so late in the season for Worlds.

Dutchmen Dumoulin comes into this event off the back of a good season, having taken the opening day prologue at the Giro d’Italia, and the flat Stage 13 time trial at the Tour de France. He was also third on Stage 7a of the Tour of Britain, only slightly behind both Dennis and winner Martin, while also finishing in second place behind the retiring Fabian Cancellara in the ITT at the Rio Olympics.

Dumoulin is my man to beat, however one man who has beaten him in the past is Dennis, incredibly taking the opening stage time trial of the 2015 Tour de France over Dumoulin on Dutch roads.

It has been an impressive last few months of the season for Dennis, claiming second in the recent TTT event in Doha on Sunday, while also winning both the team time trial, and the individual time trial stages at the Eneco Tour, where he easily beat both Dumoulin and Martin. He was unlucky to finish fifth in the ITT in Rio, having suffered mechanical problems resulting in a bike change.

The third and final key rider is German three-time World Individual Time Trial Champion Tony Martin. It has been over three years since Martin won his last world title, back in 2013, however another solid season shows all the signs that Martin can challenge once again for the rainbows in Doha.

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Martin won the individual time trial of Stage 7 at the Tour of Britain, and also was part of the Etixx-Quickstep squad that took out the Team Time Trial World Champs on Sunday.

Other riders to watch out for today include 2015 World Champion Luke Durbridge (Australia), Vasil Kiriyenka (Belarus), Nelson Oliveria (Portugal), Taylor Phinney (United States), Victor Campenaerts and Yves Lamperts (Belgium), Alex Dowsett (Great Britain), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway), Stefan Kung (Switzerland), Bob Jungels (Luxembourg), Marcej Bodnar (Poland), Anton Vorobyev (Russia), Jos van Emden (Netherlands), and Primoz Roglic (Slovenia).

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