“Covid-19 can suck my ass” says Rohan Dennis as world champion breaks quarantine

World time trial champion Rohan Dennis has deleted his social media accounts after posting a picture on Instagram of him going for a drive in defiance of Spain’s strict lockdown rules, with the Team Ineos rider saying, “Covid-19 can suck my ass.”

The 29-year-old shared a picture on Instagram yesterday taken from the wheel of his car, pulled over at the roadside, and said: “Day 34 – cracked and left the house. #covid19 can suck my ass and so can #quarantine.”

Dennis, who successfully retained his world time trial title in Harrogate last September, lives in the pro cycling hotspot of Girona in Spain’s Catalonia region. He has subsequently deleted both his Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Under emergency legislation in Catalonia, people there are only allowed to leave their homes to undertake essential shopping trips to supermarkets or pharmacies and to travel to work. Travel for leisure purposes remains forbidden.

Susan Westemeyer, who works on Israel Start-Up Nation’s media team, posted a screengrab of his original Instagram post to Twitter with the comment, “I think it’s safe to say that Rohan Dennis is not coping well at the moment.”

I think it is safe to say that Rohan Dennis is not coping well at the moment. pic.twitter.com/Kx2b1Npb11

— Susan Westemeyer (@WestemeyerSusan) April 18, 2020

One person replying to Dennis’s post said: “You could just go for a drive and not post it on social media and don’t have the back lash?”

In response, Dennis said: “Or I could show the reality of the situation and not be one of your beloved drones who show their ‘perfect world’ as an elite athlete. Which one would you like. Real or fake?”

Dennis hit the headlines last summer when he abandoned the Tour de France midway through a stage on the eve of an individual time trial that, as world champion, he was one of the favourites to win.

It proved to be his final race for the Bahrain-Merida team, which finally terminated his contract when he successfully defended his world title in Harrogate using not one of its sponsor’s bikes, but an unbadged BMC Time Machine similar to the one he had ridden 12 months earlier to win the rainbow jersey in Innsbruck.

> Rohan Dennis says ‘mental struggles’ led him to abandon Tour de France

Speaking to the press at the Tour Down Under earlier this year, Dennis revealed that he had been struggling with mental health issues at the Tour de France and had left the race to save his marriage to former professional cyclist, Melissa Hoskins.

"It was for personal family reasons between the person I was becoming due to the situation I was put under. The environment that I was in was causing me to be, let's just say, not a good or a happy person to be around," he said.

"It was snowballing, it was getting worse and, in the end, I didn't want to be a statistic of a sportsperson who was potentially going to be divorced."

Team Ineos have not yet made a statement on Dennis breaking quarantine in Spain, although team principal Sir Dave Brailsford said earlier this week that it was important to follow instructions from the relevant authorities.

> Sir Dave Brailsford: Team Ineos could withdraw from Tour de France if health at risk

Speaking in response to the announcement that the start of the Tour de France had been postponed by two months until the end of August, he said: “There will be a lot of debate generated about the rights and wrongs of the transitions out of lockdown across all aspects of society including sporting events.

“Equally most people recognise that the learning from transitioning out of lockdown will only take place once it begins. We will monitor the situation very carefully and of course take note of national guidance and all advice.”