Taylor Phinney ready for time trial challenge at World Championships
Taylor Phinney, one of America's most promising cyclists, has said that he is ready to enter the UCI Road World Championships, which begins on Wednesday.
Despite being held as the favorite to win the men's U-23 time trial, Wednesday's windy route on Australia's south coast may cause the 20-year-old some problems.
"I’ve ridden the time trial course four times,” he told Cyclingnews. “It’s really hard, a lot harder than anyone expected, except for the Australians. I think they might have been just being cruel with us. The climbs are not shallow, they’re steep
and short. It’s a course where it's really easy to go too hard on the climbs and blow up and not have enough for the finish.”
But Phinney, who recently won the US national time trial title and already has victories in the U23 Paris–Roubaix and the Track World Championships to his name this season, has already thought of ways to overcome the difficult route.
“I’ll try and use my weight and power on the downhill and flatter sections of the course, but the profile looks hard. It’s not going to be easy and very hard to settle into a rhythm. It'll be a real mental game.”
Joined Team BMC for 2011
Having raced for Lance Armstrong's U23 outfit Trek-Livestrong since 2008, Phinney opted to join Swiss Team BMC for next season instead of making the logical switch to Armstrong's Team RadioShack.
While most expect Phinney to claim his first Worlds title, the towering rider said much would be determined on the day of the race.
"It’ll come down to what happens on the day, but winning the US time trial championships ahead of Levi Leipheimer was a real [confidence] booster, but there’s a lot of strong riders here. I have a good chance.”
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