Australian cycling star Rohan Dennis has put years of bad luck and frustration behind him to finally win the world road time trial championship.
The Adelaide rider dominated the 52.5km men's elite time event at Innsbruck, Austria and he beat defending champion Tom Dumoulin by a whopping one minute 21 seconds.
He joins Michael Rogers, who won three gold medals from 2003-05, as the only Australians to win the elite time trial at the road worlds.
Victor Campenaerts, who won the European title in Glasgow last month, was 0.53 seconds behind in third.
"It's a dream come true to be world champion," Dennis said.
"I've been chasing this since I was a junior, I've never won it in any age group, so to win my first one in seniors is really special. It's an amazing feeling."
Dennis confirmed he would be Dumoulin's main challenger when the Australian won the two time trial stages over the last month at the Vuelta a Espana.
But being good enough at the worlds has never been the issue for Dennis, who has time trial stage wins at all three Grand Tours.
He slipped in the wet and fell at last year's worlds, finishing eighth when a medal looked likely.
At the Rio Olympics, he had to change bikes when an aerobar broke and that cost him a medal.
In 2015, a puncture cost him a worlds podium finish.
While Dennis is a two-time world champion and an Olympic silver medallist on the track, his previous best result in a stand alone time trial was silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The three-time national time trial champion also has held the world hour record.
It is the second medal for Australia at the worlds this week, following Luke Plapp's silver in the junior men's time trial.
Dennis is in the midst of a long-term campaign to transition from a time trial specialist to an overall contender in the three-week Grand Tours.
He will leave BMC after this season to join Bahrain-Merida.
The road races at the world championships take place this weekend, with the women competing on Saturday and the men the following day.
Richie Porte's withdrawal because of illness is a major blow to Australia, but Amanda Spratt is a medal contender.
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