Taylor Phinney determined to win an Olympic medal
Taylor Phinney is all set to launch himself for the Olympics Road Race on Saturday and the Time Trial event next week.
The American is optimistic to leave London with nothing less than gold during his second appearance at the biggest sporting event of the year.
The 22-year-old currently holds a stage each at the Giro d’Italia 2012 (Individual Time Trial) and the Giro del Trentino 2012 (Team Time Trial) and is optimistic to continue his performance at the London’s event.
While commenting on his appearance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he told Cyclingnews, "Back then I was a little kid”.
“I was way out of my element in 2008 and I almost got lost in the whole experience even before I'd competed”.
“I came to realise that a lot of people ended up going to the Olympics just for the experience”.
“In a way I forgot that I had to race my bike for four and half minutes”.
“I did okay but it wasn't up to my capabilities but I took it for granted that I might have extra chances at the gold medal," he concluded.
The cyclist has noted that he is currently enjoying the best form and is determined to secure the top podium spot at the time trial’s event.
Taylor also admitted that he is not the favourite as the competition is really high and it will not be easy to match the likes of Mark Cavendish, Andre Greipel, Matthew Harley Goss and Peter Sagan.
He has noted that defeating Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins, Tony Martin and Christopher Froome will definitely be a big ask but he has to do it in order to win the medal.
Peter Sagan wins the Tour de France point’s classifications with as many as 421 UCI points to his credit with Andre Greipel of Team Lotto Belisol 141 points at the second spot.
Matthew Harley Goss occupied the third position with 268 points with Mark Cavendish holding the fourth positions with 220 UCI points.
Phinney marked his professional debut with Team Trek-Livestrong in 2008 and stayed with the team by the end of 2012 season.
He accepted an offer from Team BMC in 2011 and is continuing his second consecutive season with the team.
It will be interesting to see, if Taylor manages to find the right momentum to add an Olympics gold medal on his resume.
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