Rohan Dennis was one of the favourites to win the Australian National Time Trial Championships but was blown off the road by strong wind gusts. With a big hematoma on his hip and pain in his ankle, Dennis is now uncertain for Sunday's road race.

The world had long known that Rohan Dennis is a big time trial talent but the full extent of his talent was first realized when he beat Chris Froome to finish 2nd behind world champion Tony Martin in the 2013 Criterium du Dauphiné time trial. With such a result on his palmares, Dennis was one of the major favourites for the Australian time trial championships which were held earlier today but the race ended in the worst possible way for the talented Australian.

Dennis had prepared meticulously for the race and was powering towards the first time check when a strong gust of wind suddenly threw him off his bike at the 14km mark on the 45km course while he was travelling at 65km/h. Impressively, he got back on his bike but one kilometre further down the road, he realized that he would be unable to get to the finish.

South Australian Sports Institute cycling manager Brett Aitken was travelling in the support van following Dennis and described the accident in an interview with The Courier.

“The whirlwind came from the side and took his wheel like a sail from underneath him,” he said. “It took his bike from being vertical to horizontal in a split second, so you’re talking about a metre off the ground. It was just one of those things where Mother Nature hits you head-on.”

Dennis has been training hard during the off-season to be ready not only for the TT championships but also for Sunday's road race. In less than two weeks, he is expected to lead Garmin-Sharp at the Tour Down Under, with defending champion Tom-Jelte Slagter preferring to stay in Europe for the birth of his first child.

However, his participation in Sunday's race is now uncertain.

“He has a pretty big haematoma on his hip and has lost skin everywhere. There is a pretty major issue with his ankle,” Aitken said.  “At first I thought he would ride on Sunday because it was just the psychological aspect of a nasty crash. But once we got back to the residence, we noticed that his hip was blowing up more and he had sharp pains in his ankle.

“There’s probably a 20 per cent chance he will ride on Sunday. We are not sure yet if anything is broken.”

However, the biggest disappointment stemmed from the missed opportunity in today's race.

“He’s most gutted because he knew he had the best form to win this year,” Aitken said. “It was quite an incredible effort but incredibly disappointing because we thought we were in for a winning ride. He had done all the work to potentially be national champion by now.”

The Australian championships continue tomorrow when the criteriums are held.