



The TTT event’s just the week’s entree for Dennis though, who’s amongst the favourites for Wednesday’s Individual Time Trial, and been his focus in the last fortnight since he left the Vuelta a Espana having won the two Individual Time Trials there. In his own words, he “couldn't have planned it better”.

The Vuelta provided the perfect lead-in to this race. Since finishing 16th at May’s Giro d’Italia, he’d spent an extended period out of racing, and completed only eight race days between late July’s RideLondon classic and when he lined up in Malaga to start the Vuelta.

“I think it was 8 weeks between races [after the Giro], which is a lot. I liked it, but I suffered a bit in the few races before the Vuelta. RideLondon, I was happy to be back, but I suffered a bit. Poland, I was good, but it was a weird feeling - my legs were hurting, but I could do something.”

The Vuelta isn’t always the tried and true path to ITT worlds; the last man to win the Rainbow Jersey in that event after racing the Vuelta was Tony Martin in 2014. If you need the race days, it’s perfect, but being such a demanding race, it requires a bit of discipline.

“It’s about being smart and pulling the ripcord when really it’s like ‘What am I gonna benefit from this’. So I need to help a teammate anymore? No? Then there’s no point me being here… So you’re getting that volume in your legs. and that racing in your legs, and every now and then you do stick around until close to the final… But it’s about working up to that, and not putting yourself to the sword every day.”

Along with the two stage wins, he spent a day in the Red Jersey, and it was a continuation of a hugely successful year; of the eight ITTs he’s contested this year, he’s won six. 2018 is the year that’s seen Dennis elevate himself into the elite category of Time Trialists, and the ultimate prize, a Rainbow Jersey, is on offer on Wednesday, if he can reach the same standards he’s set this year.

Favouritism isn’t a tag that Dennis wears comfortably though. “To be honest, whenever I get to a Time Trial, I don’t really look at myself as a favourite. I’m always looking at the competitors and going ‘Well he could beat me today’. it kind of stops me from getting too complacent when I think of it like that. It’s not me forcing myself to be like that, its a legitimate worry

“It keeps me a little bit more relaxed, but also makes me more nervous about what the other guys are doing, and how can I beat them. It does stress me a little bit, but in the end, 99% of the time, when it comes to the race I do what I can do and it’s all good. I don’t think about anybody else when I’m doing the time trial, I’m thinking about what I can do, and how I can do it best. It stresses me before, but it frees me during the race.”

That mindset is one Dennis takes into every race, despite two clear victories in the two Time Trials at the Vuelta, it didn’t feel like plan sailing beforehand as he analysed every course and his competitors.

“In the prologue at the Vuelta, you had Kwiatkowski, who was absolutely flying. It’s a power course, but there’s an uphill part which suits him, and a technical part which he’ll be good in, and they’re quite crucial parts. It’s like, how can I beat him, and what's the best tactic against him. I’ll plan it out like that.”

The field on Wednesday contains many of the key rivals that Dennis has been facing all year long. “Tom [Dumoulin]’s there, Kiriyenka seems to like these longer ones as well. Nobody’s seen Tony Martin for a while, he had a crash at the Tour de France but how’s he recovered from that? Campenaerts, you can’t count him out. There’s still plenty of guys who do push me, and not getting complacent about being the most successful in a year is the main key to staying there.”

Dennis’ main rival is set to be Tom Dumoulin and the course is suited well to the pair of them. Dumoulin is the defending World Champion, but Dennis has won two of the three times they’ve faced each other this year. At 53km, the length of the course suits both the riders, while much like the Team Time Trial, there’s a long climb in the second half of the race. That suits Dennis and Dumoulin, both being reasonable climbers; especially so for time trial specialists, who are often lumbering powerhouses that aren’t suited to inclines. That climb comes after nearly 40 kilometres of flat roads in a valley, where the riders need to keep something in the tank.