Rohan Dennis has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving after his wife, two-time Olympian Melissa Hoskins, was killed in a crash in Adelaide, Australia, on Saturday.
South Australia Police said that Hoskins was hit by a car on Saturday evening in north Adelaide. She suffered serious injuries, was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, but died overnight.
The 32-year-old competed in the team pursuit at two Olympics for Australia, winning gold in the same event at the 2015 World Championships. She also competed on the road for Orica-AIS, winning the Tour of Chongming Island in 2012.
Dennis, the two-time time trial world champion, was arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life. He was bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 13 March.
While neither have been named officially by SA Police, multiple Australian media outlets, including the national broadcaster ABC, reported that Hoskins had been killed, and that Dennis had been arrested. The pair had two children together.
The couple were previously listed on the Santos Tour Down Under's website as leaders a family ride event at the 2024 cycling season's curtain-raiser event, but those details are no longer online.
Hoskins and Dennis married in 2018, and a recent Instagram post showed the family together for Christmas.
Hoskins turned professional in 2012, riding on the road until 2015, but retired from cycling in 2017. In 2015, she won the mountains classification at the Women's Tour in the UK. At the Rio Olympics in 2016, she was involved in a high-speed crash while training for the event, which saw her hospitalised, but not seriously injured. She won five medals at various track World Championships, and finished on the podium three times in the team time trial at the road World Championships.
In a statement on social media on Sunday afternoon, her former team, now Jayco AlUla, said: "We are devastated to learn of the passing of former GreenEDGE Cycling rider Melissa Dennis nee Hoskins. Our thoughts are with her family and friends and the whole cycling community at this deeply saddening time. She will never be forgotten. RIP Mel."
Dennis retired from cycling at the end of 2023 after a career which saw him win stages at the Vuelta a España, Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. He built his success on time trialling, which saw him become world champion in 2018 and 2019, but in the latter stages of his career the Australian became a super-domestique, at Ineos Grenadiers, and then Jumbo-Visma.
