Dennis rode smartly early in the stage which was predicted to be affected by strong cross winds. Sure enough straight away the field shattered into groups.

“It was the hardest stage so far,” said Dennis. “The cross wind from 5km when we turned right, it split it to bits. From there it was a time trial for 160 km for the rest of the race.”

Even though Dennis, the best young rider jersey, was solo in the front group of 18 and against multiples from other teams, he rode with his head on a swivel to not allow himself to get caught out.

“It was a little bit of worry for a second because Brookwalter is fairly close to me, so is [Gretsch.] I had to worry about them jumping me or even them sitting on.”

“In the end we came to the conclusion that we had to work together to stay away.”