Rohan Dennis snatches opening Tour de Suisse Time Trial Victory

Australian  Rohan Dennis snatched the race lead with a slender ITT margin over Polish rider Maciej Bodnar

Dennis completed the 9.5km high-altitude course in 10min 50sec.

Poland's Maciej Bodnar was second and Sunweb's Michael Matthews, was third.

For Dennis the victory is his first since joining Bahrein from BMC.

"This is a step forward and we're only going in one direction from here," Dennis said to the press, "There's still the rest of the week and the time trial later in the week is a goal of mine too. And then there's the Tour de France. I'm looking forward to it," .

Current Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas was the fastest GC favorite with Colombian  Egan Bernal six seconds behind him.

Peter Sagan, who has been racing less and training finished 7th.

Tomorrow's stage loops around Langnau on a circuit that features two mountain passes which could see Sagan contesting the final sprint.

VIDEO: 2019 Tour de Suisse Stage 1 Highlights

2019 Tour de Suisse Stage 1 Top 10

Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 10:50
Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 10:50
Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 10:52
Soren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 10:52
Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 10:52
Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 10:55
Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 10:57
Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 10:58
Stefan Kung (Sui) Groupama-FDJ 10:58
Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education First 11:01