Every night before he collapsed in bed from the most grueling race of his life, Taylor Phinney would turn on his laptop in Spain and watch his home state go crazy about cycling.
There on his little screen, the Boulder High School graduate would see fans pack Independence Pass and Swan Mountain to watch Colorado’s inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge last month.
Then, 5,000 miles away in a small Spanish town somewhere along the Vuelta a España route, he would sigh in sadness and groan in pain. Then he would sit back and smile, knowing what lay ahead in the cycling career of a 21-year-old.
“In retrospect, I’m really happy that the Vuelta gave me a lot more when it came to fitness and experience than the USA Pro Challenge would have,” Phinney said from his training base in Lucca, Italy. “I would’ve loved to have raced in my home state, but to be able to do 12 1/2 days of a Grand Tour in my first year as a pro just sets me up better for next year and the years after that.”
And, he hopes, Wednesday afternoon.
That’s when he tests his newfound fitness at the World Cycling Championships in Denmark. Phinney already has won an U-23 world time trial championships and last year’s U.S men’s title. Now he goes against the big boys on a relatively flat, 27.8-mile course around Copenhagen. He’s also entered in the road race Sunday.
“I’m confident and excited that I could potentially be going for a top-three performance,” he said. “That’s my goal, to medal.”
It’s possible. He proved it in Spain. At the Vuelta time trial, after nine days of the most brutal racing he has ever experienced, he finished fifth, six seconds behind Switzerland’s three-time world champion, Fabian Cancellara, his idol, who was fourth.
The time trial, around the beautiful western Spain city of Salamanca, was very similar to the Danish course. Salamanca was 28.2 miles and flat.
However, the required pace was maniacal and produced some of the best writing to come out of Spain, mainly Phinney’s blog. Here’s how he described the aftermath:
“As I gasped for air and fought the urge to throw up, someone from race organization notified me that to get out of the finish area I would have to walk down a flight of stairs. ‘Are you kidding me?’ I could barely move I was so toast . . .”
If you thought watching cyclists climb Rabbit Ears Pass or do Cottonwood and Independence passes on the same stage seemed painful, check out a Grand Tour like the Vuelta.
It’s three weeks and 1,980 miles, including six summit finishes. On the two days before his time trial, Phinney had to go up a 28-percent grade on the summit finish at San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Then the next day he made a 2,376-foot summit finish climb to the top of Sierra de Bejar.
“Definitely I suffered,” he said. “There were a couple days where I really had to struggle and overcome just some painful hours, but I was really happy to make it where I made it.”
In his first Grand Tour, Phinney hoped he would make the time trial at Stage 10. He actually went past it, finishing Stage 11.
Then came Stage 12. The 100.38-mile route from Ponteareas to Ponteavedra just north of Portugal had two Category 3 climbs (Cat 4 is the lowest). To Phinney they may as well have been K2 and Everest.
After a bad night’s sleep, he fell off the back and rode 2 1/2 hours alone before being timed out of the race at the feed station. He fell asleep in the Team BMC Racing car.
“And then I was almost completely alone. Just my team car and broom wagon behind me. Not to mention the poor people who chose the wrong road on the wrong day and were now stuck behind a suffering American hogging up the whole road, losing distance to the real bike race going on further and further away.”
The good news is dropping out with a week left conserved some energy for Denmark.
Whether he competes in next year’s Cycling Challenge will depend on the London Olympics. The IOC took away his track specialty, the individual pursuit, in which he took seventh in Beijing. He’s leaning away from its replacement, a six-race, decathlon-type event called the omnium. Instead he may shoot for the time trial and road race.
It will depend on how his races go next year, which may include the Giro d’Italia or Tour de France, two Grand Tours on the calendar.
He was considered a near lock to win the 5.18-mile prologue around Colorado Springs had he raced back home this year.
“I was relatively devastated that I had to miss the prologue,” he said. “It would’ve been an opportunity to show my stuff in front of my home crowd. But it sounds like the race was really well received. Hopefully, it’ll stay a big force in American cycling.
“One day, next year or the year after that, I’d love to race in my home country.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com,
