Taylor Phinney, Boulder’s 18-year-old Olympian, said Wednesday he is leaving Boulder-based Team Garmin-Chipotle to ride with a new under-23 team started by Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion.
Armstrong is coming back after a three-year retirement and wants to develop American youth cycling under the direction of Belgian cyclist Axel Merckx, the 36-year-old son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx.
“They were the two key people in the cycling world that affected my career other than my parents: Axel Merckx and Lance Armstrong,” Phinney said. “I met Axel in the 2005 Tour. I realized we had a lot in common. He played soccer until he was 15; I played soccer until I was 15. He was one of the main reasons I wanted to be a bike rider.
“And Lance is just Lance.”
Phinney said the team will allow him to continue competing on the track in Olympic years. Phinney finished seventh in the 3,000-meter individual pursuit in last month’s Olympics.
He said he is under no obligation to turn pro with Astana, the Kazakhstan-based cycling team Armstrong is joining under the direction of Johan Bruyneel, his old director with Team Discovery and U.S. Postal Service. Phinney said he could still return as a pro for Garmin-Chipotle.
However, Phinney said he wanted to train under the direction of Merckx, who won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic road race, and Armstrong, whom he has known through his father, former Tour stage winner and fellow Boulder High School grad Davis Phinney.
Garmin-Chipotle director Jonathon Vaughters recently signed Bradley Wiggins, the gold medalist in the 3,000-meter pursuit, and understood Phinney’s decision.
“We signed the Olympic gold medalist and sometimes these things happen,” Vaughters said. “The guy who got seventh is going elsewhere.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
