Taylor Phinney

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.

Taylor Phinney
Phinney at the 2016 Tour of Britain
Personal information
Full nameTaylor Carpenter-Phinney
NicknameMini Phinney[1]
Born (1990-06-27) June 27, 1990
Boulder, Colorado, United States
Height1.97 m (6 ft 5 1⁄2 in)[2]
Weight85 kg (187 lb; 13 st 5 lb)[2]
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad and track
RoleRider
Rider typeClassics specialist
Time trial specialist[2]
Professional teams
2009–2010Trek–Livestrong
2011–2016BMC Racing Team
2017–2019Cannondale–Drapac[3]
Major wins
Grand Tours
Giro d'Italia
1 individual stage (2012)

Stage races

Dubai Tour (2014)

One-day races and Classics

National Time Trial Championships (2010, 2014, 2016)

Early life and amateur career

Phinney 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

Trek–Livestrong (2009–2010)

On 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.

Phinney during the 2010 UCI Track World Championships, where he won a gold medal for the individual pursuit

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)
Phinney competing in the 2012 Olympics time trial in London

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)

In 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

In 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]

Career achievements

Major results
2007
1st Time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships
1st Individual pursuit, National Track Championships
Tour de l'Abitibi
1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 2
2008
1st Individual pursuit, UCI Junior Track World Championships
National Junior Track Championships
1st Individual pursuit
1st Track time trial
1st Team pursuit
2009
1st Individual pursuit, UCI Track World Championships
National Track Championships
1st Individual pursuit
1st Points race
1st Team pursuit
1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs
1st Stage 1 Flèche du Sud
2010
1st Individual pursuit, UCI Track World Championships
1st Time trial, UCI Road World Under–23 Championships
1st Time trial, National Road 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 Road World Championships
2nd Team time trial
2nd Time trial
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)
3rd Giro di Toscana
5th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
7th Milan–San Remo
2014
1st Time trial, National Road Championships
1st Overall Dubai Tour
1st Young rider classification
1st Stage 1 (ITT)
1st Stage 5 Tour of California
7th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
2015
1st Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships
1st Stage 1 USA Pro Cycling Challenge
2016
1st Time trial, National Road Championships
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico
1st Stage 5 (TTT) Eneco Tour
2nd Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships
2018
8th Paris–Roubaix
2019
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour Colombia

Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Grand Tour 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Giro d'Italia — 155 DNF — — — — —
Tour de France — — — — — — 159 136
Vuelta a España DNF — — — — — — —
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish
IP In Progress

References
  1. Henderson, John (9 May 2008). ""Mini Phinney" on the move". Denver Post. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  2. "Taylor Phinney Bio". TaylorPhinney.com.
  3. "EF Education First Pro Cycling". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  4. Ballinger, Alex (October 17, 2019). "Taylor Phinney retires from professional racing at 29". Cycling Weekly. TI Media. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  5. Kirsten Frattini (June 11, 2014). "Doctors give Phinney six to eight weeks recovery time". Cyclingnews.com.
  6. Bradley, John (27 September 2016). "Vaughters on losing Phinney (to Lance) and getting him back". VeloNews. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  7. "Phinney records new track record on way to third national title". cyclingnews.com. October 3, 2008.
  8. "Phinney tabbed for Armstrong's team". Daily Camera. Boulder, CO. September 24, 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  9. Andrews, Conal (July 29, 2010). "Phinney, Sergent and Avery to begin stagiaire trial with RadioShack team". velonation.com.
  10. "BMC racing team signs Taylor Phinney". BMC-racing.com. September 22, 2010. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010.
  11. "BMC wins team time trial at Giro del Trentino". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  12. 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.
  13. "Phinney suffers broken leg in USA championship crash". Cyclingnews.com. May 27, 2014.
  14. Hood, Andrew (April 14, 2015). "BMC hopeful Phinney returns to racing 'before end of summer'". VeloNews.com.
  15. "Thereabouts 2 – now available on vimeo-on-demand". CyclingTips. December 29, 2015. Archived from the original on January 24, 2016.
  16. Smith, Sophie (19 April 2016). "Taylor Phinney focuses on Olympics as comeback from horrific injury continues". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  17. "Phinney, Small win U.S. TT nationals". VeloNews. May 27, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
  18. Meyer, John (12 August 2016). "Taylor Phinney finishes 22nd in Olympic time trial cycling event". The Denver Post. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  19. Benson, Daniel (27 September 2016). "Taylor Phinney: I'll start a new chapter at Cannondale-Drapac". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  20. "2017: 104th Tour de France: Start List". Pro Cycling Stats. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  21. 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.
  22. "Taylor Phinney retires from professional racing at 29". Cycling Weekly. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
David Zabriskie		 United States National Time Trial
Champion
2010		 Succeeded by
David Zabriskie
Preceded by
Tom Zirbel		 United States National Time Trial
Champion
2014		 Succeeded by
Andrew Talansky
Preceded by
Andrew Talansky		 United States National Time Trial
Champion
2016		 Succeeded by
Joey Rosskopf
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