A simple heart emoji posted on Twitter by Tao Geoghegan Hart said it all: In Thursday's 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia, Passo dello Stelvio, Rohan Dennis rode unselfishly to lead young Ineos Grenadiers' teammate to second place.

Dennis won the Giro's Cima Coppi award (given to the first rider to cross the race's highest point (this year, Stelvio)) and continued working for Geoghegan Hart on the descent.

Dennis then left the final climb to Laghi di Cancano to Geoghegan Hart and Hindley, with the Australian climber beating out the British climber for the Sunweb stage win. 5]

"I didn't expect to finish first in Stelvio," Dennis told Italian TV station RAI. "It was a steep climb and I was just trying to split the peloton for Tao. But I felt good, so I just kept going. I gave it my all, but I'm happy to have won in Cima Coppi and to have helped Tao.

"It's hard to be told that I'm not a team player. Because I give everything for the team as much as I can. I'm glad that Ineos Grenadiers supported me and didn't believe the crap that was said behind my back."

Dennis is a time trial specialist, but quit his then Bahrain-Merida team midway through last year's Tour de France.

"It's not nice not to have a team, but they [Ineos] gave me a chance to prove myself," said Dennis, who chose to see out the rest of the 2019 season as a free agent with the support of Cycling Australia, and at the end of the season He returned to competition to defend his time trial world champion title in Yorkshire. He then joined Ineos in 2020.

"Tao is on a learning curve and growing rapidly. Giro leader Thomas was forced to withdraw from the race after fracturing his pelvis in stage 3.

"Tao now has a more important role and we have concentrated on the stages and putting the right riders in the right places. He is now in third place and it couldn't be better," Dennis said.

The 30-year-old Australian finished second behind teammate Filippo Ganna in the time trial on stage 14. Sunday's Milan (the final stage of this year's Giro) will also be the sole stage for Geoghegan Hart.