Big guns fire in TT

ROHAN Dennis and Grace Brown have made an immediate impression with their new professional teams, dominating their respective time trails at the Australian road cycling championships.

The Tokyo Olympians emphatically reclaimed the elite crowns on day one of the nationals, winning by more than a minute on Mount Helen course.

Dennis, who has joined the Dutch Jumbo Visma team of Slovenian star Primo Roglic, made it four-all with his national time trial rival Luke Durbridge.

The Tokyo Games time trial bronze medallist won by a whopping one minute 13.13 seconds on Wednesday over the 37.5-kilometre course.

Dennis, the two-time world champion in the discipline, clocked 45:33.58 and Durbridge took second with 46:46.72.

Conor Leahy was 1:47.93 off the pace for the bronze medal.

“It’s been a good two years since I’ve been in Australia and it’s always good to win nationals, it’s never easy,” Dennis said.

“Both times when I was world champion, I couldn’t win. So it’s always about who can really prepare properly and everyone brings their A game in January.”

Likewise, Brown celebrated her official debut for strong French squad FdJ with a command performance in the women’s 28.6km event.

She won in 41 minutes 26.68 seconds, beating Amber Pate by 1:01.43 as Lisa Jacob took the bronze in 42:40.77.

“FdJ have supported me a lot already in my preparations for the time trial, so I really wanted to get this win for them, their first win of the season,” she said.

“It was a pretty hard race actually, it didn’t come easy. I’m proud of the effort.”

Brown had finished runner-up in the time trial at the last two nationals behind Sarah Gigante, who is out of action because of a heart condition.

Brown confirmed her status as the top Australian in women’s time trial with her fourth placing amid a stellar field at the Tokyo Games.

Earlier on Wednesday, Tokyo Paralympics stars David Nicholas, Carol Cooke, Paige Greco, Amanda Reid, Emily Petricola and Darren Hicks were among the category winners.

Hamish McKenzie and Isabelle Carnes won the junior time trials, while Carter Turnbull and Anya Louw took out the under-23 categories.

– BY ROGER VAUGHAN/ AAP