The Tour Down Under has been a cornerstone of Rohan Dennis' career, and he heads into Tuesday's prologue looking for another overall podium finish in a race that helped him break into the WorldTour in 2012, where he took his first WorldTour stage win and overall victory.

The South Australian rider first competed in his home race in 2010, and two years later he caught the attention of WorldTour teams by finishing fifth in GC and first in the youth and mountain classes.

Since 2014, Dennis has never missed the event, even when it was taken off the international calendar due to the COVID-19 craze and held as a national event in 2021 and 2022.For the 32-year-old, there seems to be no place like home.

"I'm always happy to put my hand up," Dennis said of his regular participation in Australia's World Tour Stage Race.

"Around November or December, I always regret it. It's not because I don't like racing, but there's a lot of pressure to do a good race from that day on."

But the draw is clear, as he has returned many times. 'For me there is no place like Adelaide.'

At the race headquarters in the Adelaide Hilton, the names of past winners are posted in front of the stairs leading into the lobby, and a huge poster of Dennis in his ochre jersey is prominently displayed on a pillar.

Dennis has finished in the top six in GC four other times, and his most recent result in a World Tour race was fourth overall. His goal this year is to finish at least one spot higher.

"I don't know if I can actually win. The second-half climb to Victor Harbor on stage 2 is a "good feeling" to see where everyone is at, and the Corkscrew on stage 3 "shows a lot," Dennis told Cycling News.

"I'm hoping my work ethic is good enough to get me on the podium," he said.

"But I might have a slight advantage in the prologue."

The 2018 and 2019 world time trial title winners are not surprisingly cautious about how much of an edge the first day of racing at the World Tour event will bring because the prologue is only 5.5 km long and time trial bikes are prohibited From.

"It's a bit of an unknown world," the rider from Adelaide said of racing against the clock on a road bike.

"I don't do a lot of TTs on a road bike. The aerodynamic aspect of it kind of throws it out the window in a way. Some riders are good at powering through aero positions, others are not. So it puts us back on a more level playing field, which I don't think is an ideal situation for me."

"Still, there is an element of competing for power, and I have worked hard to maximize that in the road position.

The intensive approach to the Tour Down Under is also part of the reason Dennis decided to forgo his Australian time trial title defense on the 37.5 km Ballarat course earlier this month.

"This year's training is very different from previous years. It's a lot more intense training, anywhere from three to ten minutes, and you can back it up a lot more times in a day."

Dennis hopes that Tuesday's prologue will give him an advantage over climbers such as Simon Yates (Team Jayco Alura) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), and that he can maintain that advantage to the end.

"I hope Tuesday is a really bad game," Dennis said with a laugh. Despite the growing pressure of the race, light jokes crept into the interview more than once.

"But guys like Jai and Yates still have their kicks and strength punches. Athletes like Ethan Hayter, Daryl Impey, and Michael Matthews are fast finishers and can get over short, hard climbs. The addition of the prologue did not change the race. There is, of course, no Richie Porte, who took two first-place overall and four second-place overall finishes on the Willunga climb.

On top of that, new race director Stuart O'Grady has put his own stamp on the long-standing event and changed the course, so not only is the retired Porte gone this year, but so is the Willunga climb, which he and the Tour Down Under have been heavily involved in. Instead, there are shorter Corkscrews and the Mount Lofty climb in the hills of Adelaide, which will be the finale of the six-day event.

"It's a more open race this year," Dennis said.

And that's something the riders from Adelaide clearly plan to take advantage of.

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