Dennis, Phinney power BMC to world time trial repeat

RICHMOND, United States: Powered by Australian Rohan Dennis with US hero Taylor Phinney making an inspirational comeback, BMC Racing defended the men’s team time trial crown Sunday at the World Road Cycling Championships.
Phinney, who missed 15 months after a serious crash, joined Dennis, Italians Daniel Oss and Michael Quinziato and Swiss riders Silvan Dillier and Stefan Kueng in conquering the 38.6km (24 miles) course in 42min 7.97secs.
“To win again and really put our mark on the team time trial is really big,” Dennis said.
Etixx Quick Step, featuring three-time individual world time trial champion Tony Martin and world road race champion Michal Kwiatkowski, was second, the 2012 and 2013 champions finishing 11.35 seconds off the pace with Movistar third in 42:38.08.
“We were happy with the performance but not the result,” Martin said. “The goal was to get gold.”
With Dennis powering the way, BMC seized the lead by 3.75 seconds after 10km and stretched the margin to 12.39 seconds after going 20km in 18:58.59, although Etixx Quick Step trimmed to deficit to 5.80 seconds after 30km.
“It’s surprising we lost the time at the start because we felt good there,” Martin said. “We started to gain a few seconds back. We knew it was a fight.”
But BMC pulled away at the finish, a final climb leaving only Phinney, Oss, Dillier and Dennis to cross the line and produce the winning time.
“Rohan Dennis really pulled us today,” Phinney said. “He was pulling us forward.”
Phinney, back from a career-threatening 2014 crash, began his fightback last month at the Tour of Utah and followed by winning the first stage of the USA Pro Challenge.