Long known as a talented time triallist, Rohan Dennis burst onto the scene in today's stage 4 at the Criterium du Dauphiné, finishing 2nd on the stage to move himself into the overall lead. The Australian found it hard to believe that he was leading a WorldTour event in his first season as a professional and had only targeted the white jersey for best young rider in today's stage.

When Rohan Dennis finished 5th overall and won the white jersey in his first ever WorldTour race at the Tour Down Under last year, it was evident that the Australian was an exceptional talent. He went on to ride an impressive season as a U23 rider, winning the prestigious Thüringen Rundfahrt and finishing 2nd in the U23 world time trial championships.

It was no surprise that Garmin-Sharp used their strong Australian connections to sign the promising talent but the start to his professional career was much tougher than he had expected. He had to forfeit his participation in the Tour Down Under due to injury and he visibly struggled in his first races of the year.

The turning point came at the Tour de Romandie in April when he finished 9th in the flat time trial on the final day of racing and was backed up by a formidable performance at the Tour of California. Having fallen out of GC contention due to the heat early in the race, he did a huge amount of work for Tyler Farrar before taking a fantastic 3rd in the time trial and a solid 11th in the queen stage to the top of Mount Diablo.

Today he finally showed the real extent of his talent by riding himself into the overall lead at the Criterium du Dauphiné, having only been beaten by world champion Tony Martin in the time trial. The result came as a huge surprise to the Australian who had started the stage with the much more modest objective of taking the white jersey as best young rider.

“I’m very, very happy!”, he reacted. “My goal was the white jersey and I receive the yellow as well. It’s a dream come true to get a yellow jersey at a World Tour event."

He was a late inclusion to the team's squad for the event, his selection solely based on his solid performance in California. Hence, he turned up with the sole aim of helping team leader Andrew Talansky but when the American fell ill early on, Dennis was allowed to test his own abilities.

"My plan for the Dauphiné was to help Andrew Talansky but unfortunately, he fell sick," he said.

Today's result proved that the confidence was justified and he describes today's time trial performance as his best ever.

"I knew my form was good," he said. "It can always be a bit of a gamble against guys like Froome and Contador. At the end, I’m surprised to be so close to Martin. This is the best TT I’ve done up to date. I just tried to hold the power I thought I could hold average wise but instead of dropping towards the end, I realized I had a bit more to give. It’s a great feeling to be in yellow now. I’ll just try to hold the jersey as long as I can.”

The natural question is of course whether the performance will be enough to convince his team to include him in the line-up for the Tour, especially with a team time trial early in the race that will be a huge target for his American squad. However, Dennis knows that it is unlikely to happen, given that his professional career has lasted less than 6 months.

"There's obviously a possibility but at the moment the team knows I'm a first-year pro and it's a big ask to do the Tour," he told CyclingNews. "If I get to do it, it would be a huge bonus and I'd be over the moon. It's not something we've talked about yet though and the team is up in the air for the Tour minus a few senior riders."

Starting at 12.45 you can follow Dennis' jersey defense in tomorrow's mountaintop finish on CyclingQuotes.com/live.