Dennis holds on to win thrilling eRace Classic

06 Jun 2020

Dennis holds on to win thrilling eRace Classic

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Rohan Dennis retained his crown as the king of eRacing with a gutsy solo victory in the Team INEOS eRace Classic.

The Aussie was the hot favourite heading into the race but was made to work hard in the closing stages as his Team INEOS teammates mounted a comeback.

A lead that had spun out to over two minutes began to plummet on the final of four laps, with a host of attacks behind enlivening the fight for the podium places.

In the end Dennis held on to win by just three seconds on Zwift's Yorkshire roads. It was British champion Ben Swift who narrowly missed out on a "home" win, with Dylan van Baarle crossing the line a further second back.

The Tour of Tewit Well provided some exciting racing, with Dennis getting off to a rapid start on the opening lap, disappearing up the road alongside fellow time trial specialist Jonathan Castroviejo.

The pair initially bolstered their advantage, with Dennis scooping up enough points to win the KOM prize, while in behind the peloton began to fight back.

With Dennis finally pushing on solo from the start of lap three, his lead margin began to drop, with Pavel Sivakov and Eddie Dunbar working together well to overhaul Castroviejo.

Michal Kwiatkowski also joined the party as five riders came together to battle it out. Despite having Dennis in sight, he was just able to hold on to take victory in a grandstand finish
eRace Classic full replay

eRace Classic full replay

Reaction

- Rohan Dennis

"I was hurting from probably around lap two but I was looking at the time gap. I thought Jonathan was playing the game a bit so I thought I’d open it up. He wasn’t, and I ended up having to do the rest solo which absolutely killed me towards the end.
 
"I was hoping they wouldn’t catch me but obviously I saw Swifty, who was also in the team with me. It was a 1-2 for our team (Team 4) so even if he did catch me it was still a win for us. I was keeping an eye (on the gap) and I was pushing and pushing.
 
"If it was someone else I’d have probably found another gear but I was completely wrecked at the end.
 
"We had a plan that Swifty would sit back and I’d bring everyone out and make it as hard as possible. It was working that way and that was our sneaky tactic to leave me as a bullet out front. And if they caught me they caught me and Swifty would be the guy to take the sprint. We kept that a bit quiet."
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