Considered as one of the strongest podium contenders while lining up at the World Championship individual time trial, thanks to an impressive string of runner-up spots against the clock this year as well as being a part of the winning BMC Racing team on Sunday, Rohan Dennis lived up to his own expectations yesterday. Even though the 24-year old Australian had to settle for a fifth spot after being impressively close to eventually unattainable duo of Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin in the first part of the course, he admitted that he simply couldn’t ride a better time trial with his current abilities.

Fifth place could have been regarded a slight disappointment for Dennis after, according to the GPS time reverences, he managed to ride at the same pace as Wiggins as Martin between the first and second intermediate check of the demanding course around Ponferrada, leaving other podium contenders behind.

Unfortunately, the 24-year old BMC rider lacked the strength to maintain his impressive pace and get over the final climb while Vasil Kiryienka and Tom Dumoulin were only getting stronger from one time split to another, and eventually both of them clocked best times at the finish than the Australian.

Despite missing on the podium spot, Dennis was very pleased with his performance on Wednesday, admitting that he simply couldn’t ride better with his current abilities. He also revealed that due to broken earpiece he wasn’t aware of time differences between him and other contenders, and only the presence of television motorbike suggested that he was going strongly. Differently than some other young riders complaining about cameras hindering their TT efforts earlier this season, the 24-year old clearly enjoyed his time in the spotlight..

"Hopefully in ten years I'll win," Dennis smiled afterwards. "It's obviously one of the goals in my career is to win the world time trial championships and getting within a minute of Wiggo is a big confidence boost for me. It's a huge step from last year and losing three minutes, so each year it's getting better."

"I got the first time split and then my radio stopped," Dennis said. "So from then on, I was just looking at my power. You can sort of sense that when the cameras are around you, you're near the mark especially towards the end, so I used that as a guide. I knew I was within range of a medal or close to. It's always a bit of a confidence thing when the camera is there."

Losing to Bradley Wiggins by less than one minute, Dennis was surprised by his progress in the discipline within last twelve months and encouraged to continue his efforts in the future.

"I was hoping by then I'd have enough gas to get over the climbs and hold on to guys like Wiggo and Tony. Realistically I knew I probably wasn't going to beat them but to get third was definitely a possibility today if I had an absolute ripper of a day," Dennis said.

"Physically that's all I had to give. I rode a perfect time trial for my ability at the moment. I need to work on not so much the climbing power but that bit just over the top of the climbs. I couldn't really punch over the top. I couldn't get the speed back up and going as quickly as what I would've done at the start of the race."

Without being over enthusiastic, Australian national coach Bradley McGee was equally pleased with efforts of the 24-year old time trialist and revealed that yesterday’s strategy was set with having his future progress in mind more than current abilities.

He also stated that rare mid-season team change has already paid off for Dennis, not only he made a switch to the winning squad but because of the environment, which apparently strongly supports his progress.

"He maybe didn't have the full legs we expected to finish the job over the climb but the strategy was set with an eye on the coming years," McGee said. "His line and his technical delivery was spot on which we haven't seen always from him, so it's very encouraging. I'm not getting overly excited about it but it's very encouraging."

"Fortunately with Allan Peiper and his new team, it's a perfect environment for Rohan to be in to make those subtle changes he needs. At the same time, you need to be patient, and wait for age and maturity to do its thing," McGee said. "But you'd expect with that attitude and that delivery, give him a couple of years and a couple of more of these events, and he'll get through that closing 15 percent. Then he's in the game."