He is charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life and has been bailed to appear in court in March.
Police will claim Hoskins jumped on to the bonnet of their $70,000 4WD Volkswagen Amarok ute and grabbed at a door handle while Dennis allegedly drove until she fell to the ground, the Adelaide Advertiser reports.
The mother of two may have been dragged some distance along the street, with the alleged incident believed to have been caught on neighbouring security cameras.
Investigations into what sparked the alleged incident remain ongoing.
Hoskins, who used her married name Melissa Dennis on Facebook, competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics on the track in the team pursuit and was in the squad that won the 2015 world title in the event.
Australia was one of the gold medal contenders at the 2016 Rio Games, but a training crash days before qualifying cruelled their chances.
Hoskins was among those injured in the pile-up and, after riding in the qualifying round, was forced to sit out the rest of the event as Australia finished fifth.
She and Meares were members of the track cycling team at the London and Rio Games.
“I have a very heavy heart. My thoughts are with their children, family and fellow friends. This is a very difficult and tragic time. RIP @MelissaMHoskins”, Meares posted on X (formerly Twitter).
AusCycling chief executive Marne Fechner spoke of the shock and sorrow of people involved in the sport.
“Melissa described her team pursuit gold medal at the 2015 world championships as the highlight of her career, but for the rest of us, the highlight was just having her around,” Fechner said.
“Although she retired in 2017, her presence as an alumnus of the sport has been felt and appreciated by many in the cycling and riding community.”
Hoskins also competed on the road for several years with Australian team GreenEdge.
Rohan Dennis won two world titles in the road time trial, as well as silver in the team pursuit at the London Olympics and bronze in the road time trial at the Tokyo Olympics.
He became the seventh Australian to wear the yellow jersey as race leader at the Tour de France by winning the opening time trial in 2015, setting a race record for his average speed.
Dennis was named Australian Cyclist of the Year in 2015 and 2018 and won the 2015 Tour Down Under in his home city of Adelaide.
After his retirement, the Dennis family relocated to Adelaide from Europe.
Hoskins and Dennis were this month scheduled to take part in an event at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
“We are devastated by the news of Melissa Hoskins’ death. It’s an extremely tragic situation which has seen the loss of a young mum and champion cyclist,” organisers said in a statement.
“Given the circumstances, Rohan Dennis will no longer be participating.”
