Taylor Carpenter-Phinney (born June 27, 1990) is an American retired professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2019 for the Trek–Livestrong, BMC Racing Team and EF Education First teams.[4] Phinney specialized in time trials on the road as well as the individual pursuit on the track, winning the world title in the discipline in 2009 and 2010.
Early life and amateur career
editPhinney was born on June 27, 1990, to former professional road cyclist and Olympic medal-winner Davis Phinney and former Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist and speed skater Connie Carpenter-Phinney.[5]
In 2007 at the age of 16, Phinney began racing on Team Slipstream's junior squad. Slipstream team manager Jonathan Vaughters signed Phinney to the team before he had competed in a race, having heard word-of-mouth reports about Phinney's ability on group rides in Boulder. It was at this time that Phinney was introduced to track cycling.[6] In August 2007, he won the World Junior Championships time trial title. Since then, Phinney has competed in National, World Cup and World Championship events for track cycling. Phinney finished seventh in the individual pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Later that year, at the U.S. National Track Championships, he won gold medals in the elite one kilometer time trial, individual pursuit and team pursuit races.[7]
Professional career
editTrek–Livestrong (2009–2010)
editOn September 24, 2008, Lance Armstrong announced that Phinney had made the under-23 team, which was organized by the group that managed Armstrong's Team RadioShack, Trek–Livestrong.[8] On March 26, 2009, Phinney won the individual pursuit at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and, again, at the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on March 25, 2010. Phinney then switched his focus to the road, winning the Paris–Roubaix Espoirs, the Olympia's Tour overall, in addition to the first four stages and time trials in Tour de l'Avenir and Tour of Utah.
On July 29, 2010, it was announced that Phinney and teammates Jesse Sergent and Clinton Avery would ride in the Tour of Denmark for Team RadioShack,[9] riding as stagiaires.
BMC Racing (2011–2016)
edit
On September 22, 2010, the BMC Racing Team announced that Phinney would become part of BMC in 2011, joining a team that included Cadel Evans, George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan.[10] The highlight of Phinney's first season with BMC was a fourth-place finish in the Eneco Tour.
Phinney started the 2012 season by helping his team win the Giro del Trentino's team time trial, where he wore the leader's jersey for a day.[11] His early target for the 2012 season was the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia, which he duly won to wear the leader's jersey, the maglia rosa, becoming just the third American to do so following Andrew Hampsten in 1988 and Christian Vande Velde in 2008. Phinney then switched his focus to the Olympic Games, targeting the road race and time trial, where he finished fourth in each event. He would go on to win the stage-seven individual time trial of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Phinney participated in the 2012 UCI World Road Race Championships. He was part of the six-man BMC team that took silver in the team time trial. Phinney also finished second to Tony Martin in the individual event, missing out on becoming World Champion by five seconds.
Amidst the turmoil of the Lance Armstrong–USADA affair, Phinney sent a tweet congratulating his teammate Steve Cummings for his stage win at the Tour of Beijing, saying "He [Cummings], like me, follows his own personal policy of no caffeine pills and no painkillers. Purest of the pure!"[12] Phinney later explained his comment by stating that although legal, caffeine pills and mild painkillers were often used in the peloton during races, and that some riders even crushed them and mixed them in water bottles. He stated that he was entirely against that practice and doping in general.[12]
On the penultimate stage of the 2013 Tirreno–Adriatico, in heavy rain, Phinney found himself well in arrears of the leaders on a tough finishing circuit, which included a climb at Sant'Elpidio a Mare with gradients reaching 27 percent. Around 30 other riders in the group abandoned the race with over 100 kilometers (62 miles) to go, but Phinney rode on alone in the hope of making the time limit, so he could compete in the final day's time trial. Ultimately, Phinney missed the time limit by over ten minutes.
In the early part of the 2014 season, Phinney won the inaugural Dubai Tour after winning the opening time-trial. In May, Phinney won a stage of the Tour of California. With more than 23 kilometers to the finish, Phinney broke away from a reduced peloton and won by 12 seconds. Soon after, Phinney was victorious for a second time at the United States National Time Trial Championships. Two days later, at the United States National Road Race Championships, Phinney suffered a career-threatening crash after sliding into a guard-rail. He was attempting to avoid a motorcycle on the descent of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. His injuries—a compound fracture to his tibia and severed patellar tendon—required surgery. Phinney never wore his national jersey as he remained out of action for a year, having initially been given a six-to-eight-week recovery period.[5][13][14]
At the end of 2015, Phinney participated in "Thereabouts 2", with Angus Morton, Lachlan Morton and Cameron Wurf.[15] "Thereabouts 2" was an adventure-related cycling trip from Boulder, Colorado to Moab, Utah, while attempting to realize what makes cycling so special: adventure, friendship and a lack of structure.
Phinney spent the early part of the 2016 season recovering from his injuries, making his first race appearance of the year at the Tour du Haut Var in February and subsequently racing in the spring classics before returning from Europe to his native Colorado.[16] In May 2016 Phinney took his third national time trial title in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, beating runner-up Tom Zirbel by over a minute: Phinney expressed satisfaction with the result and his performance, hoping that it would help him secure selection for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[17] He competed at the Olympics, but despite entering the road time trial with hopes of a medal, he finished 22nd, over five minutes behind winner Fabian Cancellara.[18]
Cannondale–Drapac Pro Cycling Team (2017–2019)
editIn September 2016 Phinney confirmed that he had agreed an initial two-year deal with Cannondale–Drapac from the 2017 season, with a focus on competing in the classics and aiming to race in the 2017 Tour de France.[19] In June 2017, he was named in the start list for the 2017 Tour de France,[20] marking his debut in the race. In an interview ahead of the Tour Phinney stated that he was still undergoing therapy to deal with the effects of his injuries, and said that the power output from his left side was almost 25 percent down on that from his right side when making an explosive effort.[21] Phinney was leading the mountains classification and wearing the polka dot jersey competition on stage 2.
Retirement
editIn October 2019 Phinney announced that he would retire from professional racing at the end of the 2019 season. He cited the ongoing effects of an injury he suffered in 2014 as a reason for his retirement.[22]
Personal life
editSince 2016, Phinney has been in a relationship with Polish professional cyclist Katarzyna Niewiadoma.[23][24]
Major results
editRoad
edit- 2007
- 1st
Time trial, UCI World Junior Championships - Tour de l'Abitibi
- 1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 2
- 2009
- 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs
- 1st Stage 1 Flèche du Sud
- 2010
- 1st Time trial, UCI World Under-23 Championships
- 1st
Time trial, National Championships - 1st
Overall Olympia's Tour
- 1st Prologue, Stages 1, 2 & 3
- Tour of Utah
- 1st Prologue & Stage 3 (ITT)
- 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs
- 1st Stage 2b Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
- 1st Stage 4 Tour of the Gila
- 1st Prologue Tour de l'Avenir
- 2011
- 4th Overall Eneco Tour
- 1st Prologue
- 2012
- Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stage 1 (ITT)
- Held
after Stages 1–3
- 1st Stage 7 (ITT) USA Pro Cycling Challenge
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Giro del Trentino
- UCI World Championships
- 2nd
Team time trial - 2nd Time trial
- 2nd
- 3rd Chrono des Nations
- Olympic Games
- 4th Road race
- 4th Time trial
- 2013
- 1st Stage 4 Tour de Pologne
- 3rd Overall Tour of Qatar
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st Stage 2 (TTT)
- 1st
- 3rd Giro di Toscana
- 5th Time trial, UCI World Championships
- 7th Milan–San Remo
- 2014
- 1st Time trial, National Championships
- 1st
Overall Dubai Tour
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st Stage 1 (ITT)
- 1st
- 1st Stage 5 Tour of California
- 7th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- 2015
- 1st
Team time trial, UCI World Championships - 1st Stage 1 USA Pro Cycling Challenge
- 2016
- 1st Time trial, National Championships
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico
- 1st Stage 5 (TTT) Eneco Tour
- 2nd Team time trial, UCI World Championships
- 2017
- Tour de France
- Held
after Stage 2
- Held
- 2018
- 8th Paris–Roubaix
- 2019
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour Colombia
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
edit| Grand Tour | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
|
— | 155 | DNF | — | — | — | — | — |
 Tour de France
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | 159 | 136 |
 Vuelta a España
|
DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| IP | In Progress |
Track
edit- 2007
- 1st Individual pursuit, National Championships
- 2008
- 1st
Individual pursuit, UCI World Junior Championships - National Junior Championships
- 1st Individual pursuit
- 1st Kilo
- 1st Team pursuit
- 1st
- 2009
- UCI World Championships
- 1st Individual pursuit
- 2nd Kilo
- 1st
- National Championships
- 1st Individual pursuit
- 1st Points race
- 1st Team pursuit
- 1st
- UCI World Cup Classics
- 1st Individual pursuit
- 1st Kilo
- 2010
- UCI World Championships
- 1st Individual pursuit
- 3rd
Omnium
- 1st
References
edit- ^ Henderson, John (9 May 2008). ""Mini Phinney" on the move". Denver Post. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ^ a b c "Taylor Phinney Bio". TaylorPhinney.com.
- ^ "EF Education First Pro Cycling". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ Ballinger, Alex (17 October 2019). "Taylor Phinney retires from professional racing at 29". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ a b Kirsten Frattini (11 June 2014). "Doctors give Phinney six to eight weeks recovery time". Cyclingnews.com.
- ^ Bradley, John (27 September 2016). "Vaughters on losing Phinney (to Lance) and getting him back". VeloNews. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ^ "Phinney records new track record on way to third national title". cyclingnews.com. 3 October 2008.
- ^ "Phinney tabbed for Armstrong's team". Daily Camera. Boulder, Colorado. 24 September 2008. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ^ Andrews, Conal (29 July 2010). "Phinney, Sergent and Avery to begin stagiaire trial with RadioShack team". velonation.com.
- ^ "BMC racing team signs Taylor Phinney". BMC-racing.com. 22 September 2010. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010.
- ^ "BMC wins team time trial at Giro del Trentino". Cycling News. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ a b Shane Stokes (16 October 2012). "Taylor Phinney Interview: Getting the pill culture out of the sport". Velo Nation. Velo Nation LLC. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ "Phinney suffers broken leg in USA championship crash". Cyclingnews.com. 27 May 2014.
- ^ Hood, Andrew (14 April 2015). "BMC hopeful Phinney returns to racing 'before end of summer'". VeloNews.com.
- ^ "Thereabouts 2 – now available on vimeo-on-demand". CyclingTips. 29 December 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016.
- ^ Smith, Sophie (19 April 2016). "Taylor Phinney focuses on Olympics as comeback from horrific injury continues". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ^ "Phinney, Small win U.S. TT nationals". VeloNews. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
- ^ Meyer, John (12 August 2016). "Taylor Phinney finishes 22nd in Olympic time trial cycling event". The Denver Post. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ^ Benson, Daniel (27 September 2016). "Taylor Phinney: I'll start a new chapter at Cannondale-Drapac". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ^ "2017: 104th Tour de France: Start List". Pro Cycling Stats. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
- ^ Benson, Daniel (1 July 2017). "Taylor Phinney: I have to be happy with whatever level I get back to". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "Taylor Phinney retires from professional racing at 29". Cycling Weekly. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- ^ Dreier, Fred (26 September 2018). "Kasia Niewiadoma's balancing act". VeloNews. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
- ^ Hansen, Matt (20 January 2023). "Taylor Phinney's trail-building videos in a Kiwi accent are absolutely hilarious". Canadian MTB. Gripped Publishing. Archived from the original on 25 August 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
External links
edit
- Official website
- Taylor Phinney at ProCyclingStats
- Taylor Phinney at Cycling Archives