Former U23 winner focuses on getting healthy after knee injury
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Taylor Phinney shows off his US time trial champion's skinsuit(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Taylor Phinney seems to be happy to be racing in the sun.(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Taylor Phinney is looking forward to a big season with BMC.(Image credit: Barry Ryan)
Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) has been ruled out of Paris-Roubaix as he continues his rehabilitation from injury. The American had hoped to start his first senior Hell of the North but will remain in Italy and train. His team has not yet confirmed which race will mark his comeback, but it is hopeful that he will race again in the coming weeks.
"He's definitely not doing Roubaix," team manager Jim Ochowicz told Cyclingnews.
"There are number of issues, and he's not ready for the race and he's not raced on pave this year. He's preparing to get himself healthy and get himself back on track."
Phinney been looking forward to competing in his first senior campaign on the cobbles and came into the year as the two-time Paris-Roubaix champion at the Under 23 level.
However persistent knee troubles have disrupted his debut season. He started the Volta a Catalunya last month in the hope of finding his race legs but was forced to pull out. However Ochowicz told Cyclingnews that Phinney was now fit but needed race miles before embarking on a race as tough as Roubaix.
"It's not time off the bike that he needs though, it's time on the bike. Hopefully he'll be back within this month but if he'd been fit then he would started. He's still got a lot of Roubaix outings to look forward to."
Ochowicz also refused to rule out Phinney riding in this year's Tour de France.
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"Again we don't know it's too early to predict his schedule but there's been no commitments. We'll evaluate things over the coming weeks. we just want him back racing as soon as possible but we just don't want to rush things."
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
