Boulder High graduate Taylor Phinney finished 15th in the World Cycling Championships time trial Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
He finished the 27.8-mile course in 57:36, 3:53 behind winner Tony Martin of Germany. Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain took second 1:16 behind, and Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland took third 1:21 behind.
“I’m definitely disappointed,” Phinney said from Copenhagen. “I would’ve liked to do better. The main goal was to try and be in the top 10. I was just lacking a little bit.”
Phinney had high hopes after finishing fifth last month at the Espana a Vuelta time trial in his first Grand Tour. Last year he won the Under-23 world time trial championship and the 2010 U.S. senior title.
However, the senior course in Copenhagen is about seven miles longer than this year’s U-23 course.
“The distance plays a pretty big part,” Phinney said. “I was struggling pretty hard in that last 15K (nine miles).”
He said he felt fresh despite a grueling Vuelta in which he was timed out with about a week left.
“If I look at my power file, I was a lot stronger today than I was at the Vuelta,” he said. “But everybody is at another level here because it’s the World Championships. I came into this and did the proper preparation. I just didn’t quite have it in my legs to be in the top 10.
“There’s definitely some modifications I can make in my position to increase the aerodynamic. There’s stuff in my training as well I can take looking forward. These last couple of months have given me a real good idea of what my body is capable of doing.”
One consolation Phinney can take is he and Jesus Herrada Lopez of Spain were, at 21, the youngest of the 40 riders in the field. Phinney finishes the season Sept. 29 at the Circuit Franco-Belge, then Paris-Tours before returning to Boulder in mid-October.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com, .
