2024-01-01 19:29:52
Updated Monday, January 1, 2024 – 18:29
The Australian, investigated for the fatal attack on his wife, was for years the best time trialist in the world. He won the 2019 World Cup with a bike without sponsors due to his argument with Bahrain and skipped confinement in 2020.
Dennis, left. Hoskins, right.MIGUEL MEDINA; BRENTON EDWARDSAFPNews Former world champion Rohan Dennis arrested after fatally hitting his wife
On the last day of 2023tragedy crossed Melissa Hoskinsformer Australian cyclist 32 at. The athlete, now retired, was fatally run over a few meters from his house Adelaide, in the south of the oceanic country. She leaves two young children, a boy and a girl, and a sporting legacy in which she accumulated five medals in the track world championshipsThree in World Cups on the road and a fourth and a fifth place in the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games. His death has shaken the world of cycling not only because of his loss, which has provoked numerous messages of consolation from former teammates and rivals, but also because of the circumstances of his death.
And the police investigation has as its main accused: Rohan Dennisher husband, two-time time trial world champion and member until December 31, Jumbo Visma. According to the first investigations by the police and as reported by the country’s media, the couple would have had an argument and Dennis would have run over his wife when leaving the place by car.
The cyclist was arrested after the incident and charged with “homicide by reckless driving and endangering human life”, although he was later released on bail pending the court hearing that will take place on March 13.
This 31st was officially the day of Dennis’s sporting retirement, having raced for the last two years for the Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, Wout Van Aert and Sepp Kuss, who dominated the season with an iron fist. The 33-year-old Australian rider competed in his last major event in the individual time trial from the last World Cup in Stirlingfinishing in seventh position behind, among others, Evenepoel (oro), Summer (silver) and Tarling (bronze). He had previously participated in the Giro d’Italia, helping Roglic to get the pink jersey at the finish line in Rome.
Past in Spain
At the end of the months of competition, the Australian had moved permanently to Adelaide with his family after having lived in Europe during his years as a professional. Specifically, Dennis was a great lover of Andorra and the northern area of Cataloniawhere I resided for a time. Garmin, BMC, Bahrain, INEOS y Jumbo They were his teams in the best years of his career, always focused on the time trial. Of course, at times he also showed the ability to climb the most important mountains of the Grand Tours at a good pace, where he won one in each of them.
The controversy with Bahrain in 2019
He was never a very controversial or eccentric athlete, although on a couple of occasions he put himself in the eye of the hurricane. 2019 was perhaps the year in which it grabbed the most headlines. He had a sensational 2018, the best season of his life, winning his first World Cup, two stages in La Vuelta, another in the Giro and two in the Tirreno. At 28 years old, he had all the UCI teams at his feet. After five years in the BMC, he chose Bahrain, where he only lasted one year.
After being second in the Tower of Suizaarrived at the Tour de France with the objective of taking the time trial, helping Nibali in whatever way he could and preparing for the world. Nothing happened. One day before the individual time trial, he got into a breakaway that was not planned by the team, He argued with his ‘bosses’ about the earpiece and left without giving further explanation.
The two years he had signed with the Gulf team seemed to be hanging by a thread. And so it was. Dennis took two months without competing and arrived at the World Cup under the microscope, with Bahrain wishing luck to all their runners except him. The controversy did not stop there and Dennis went out onto the asphalt of the Harrogate World Cup with a completely black bicycle (from the BMC brand, his former sponsor) and with a helmet that had nothing to do with Bahrain. It was a complete challenge.
As if that were not enough, the Australian revalidated the title and confirmed himself as the best time trialist in the world. Like the previous year, his table was filled with offers. He Bahrain announces that it is firing and Dennis signed for INEOS, the most powerful team at that time.
“Covid can lick my ass”
The Australian’s next controversy came a year later, in the middle of the coronavirus epidemic. Covid-19. Dennis spent the months of the pandemic in Girona, where he had his residence, and in April, just 5 weeks after the national shutdown due to the disease, he skipped confinement and published it on his Instagram account. “Covid-19 can lick my ass and quarantinetoo,” he published, along with a photo on the road taken from inside his car.
Almost three years later, in February 2023, he announced that on December 31, when his contract with Jumbo Visma would end, he would retire. He did it with a loving message to his wife Melissa: “Thank you for supporting me throughout my entire professional career, as we raised the two best children I could have ever had. Cycling, you have given me a lot and I will be eternally grateful. There is still a long season ahead, however, definitely “I will be the last as a professional,” he wrote.
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