Taylor Phinney is simultaneously attended to by medics and interviewed after his Giro d'Italia stage 3 crash(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Taylor Phinney (BMC) celebrates another day in pink after rebounding from a last kilometer crash(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Pink jersey Taylor Phinney (BMC) was among those to fall.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Taylor Phinney (BMC) leads the race(Image credit: Sirotti)
Taylor Phinney (BMC) made the most of his Giro d’Italia rest day by recuperating after his stage 3 crash. The American maglia rosa hit the tarmac inside the finale and was swiftly taken to the hospital after the podium celebrations. Scans revealed no broken bones, but treatment required several stitches to his badly swollen ankle.
His race lead stands at nine seconds and with Wednesday’s 32.2-kilometre team time trial on the horizon, Phinney has been taking no chances.
“Today I’ve just been lounging around. Last night I couldn’t walk, but today I can walk on it slowly. I just rode for 15 minutes and started to warm up. It’s definitely not the most comfortable sensation, riding with a swollen ankle but I made some modifications to the shoes and I’ve just got to get as much rest as I can and we’ll see what tomorrow brings,” he said.
Phinney and the rest of the peloton had to endure a 1,200-kilometre transfer from Denmark to Italy at the end of stage 3 and combined with two hospital visits, Phinney only reached his hotel in the small hours of Tuesday morning.
“It was a bit of a hectic day with the flight and then going to one hospital and then having to wait a while, go to another hospital to be treated and then being stitched. I wasn’t home until pretty late but the team took really good care of me. I had a full dinner in my room when I got back and just tried to go to bed as soon as I could.”
Despite his stage 3 travails, Phinney remained positive ahead of the team time trial. His objectives ahead of the Giro were to win the opening time trial and finish the race. Even if he loses the lead in tomorrow’s team test he’ll remain in the race as long as his ankle allows him.
“I’m definitely lucky with the timing of the rest day and the timing of the crash yesterday because I was fortunate enough to be in the last three kilometres. Now it’s just a matter of time and it the clock is ticking down to the time trial. It’s pretty black and blue all around but I’m taking it hour by hour, and day by day at this point.”
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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.
