Extremely annoying after about 3 seconds
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TP is good for cycling… yes he is goofy, weird, definitely a hipster and may never be a GC contender but maybe he’ll pull some millenials or the next generation off the couch and onto a bike because that don’t just see pompous stiffs talking about watts in their yellow jersey as the race up the local mt. Ventoux every weekend.
Agreed on his accomplishments & I’m happy for him & his team, that he experienced TDF. The sport of cycling has had some dim light shed on it with all the bad press ala “He Who Shall Not Be Named” (many threads here on that)…he may be trying to add some lighter more jovial antics to make it more interesting and less WWF-like. He is who he is, I have no issue with who he is/trying to be. Although the videos he made were dragging despite being short. Weird indeed IMO, but whatever, I have a DVR so just FF through it. Phil & company seemd to enjoy them, good for them. I wouldn’t say I’m sick of Taylor, as I’d love to see more of his racing in Grand Tours. He’s lucky to be racing with what he went through, it’s been a long road back & I welcome him back, and hope to enjoy on bike excitement in years to come. I think we may yet see more of him now he’s dipped his toes to test the waters. He is young & has a lot of years yet to race.
I’m guessing grey hairs outnumber original color on this OP
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Quirky kid, helluva talented bike racer, very tough. His final GC standing is meaningless relative to what he did for his team this TdF. And hIs teammates like him. So, he rehabs from an incredibly severe injury, then comes back and plays at the world tour level and then finishes a GT. But no work ethic or desire.
Good one.
The guy was clearly a big talent, and I understand he suffered a horrific injury that may change his perspective. But still… I am just not getting his jokester or hipster antics. Would love to see him be a little more serious and competitive a little more frequent.
Actually, I think you’re missing an important point: many really talented people are freaking weird. Think of Usain Bolt, who has some similar qualities. People deal with stress and intensity in different ways. I certainly learned a heck of a lot from the recent video I saw of him, both in terms of his approach and his very detailed ways of thinking about tts.
So you don’t like his facial hair. Wondering if your world is unnecessarily narrow.
TP is good for cycling… yes he is goofy, weird, definitely a hipster and may never be a GC contender but maybe he’ll pull some millenials or the next generation off the couch and onto a bike because that don’t just see pompous stiffs talking about watts in their yellow jersey as the race up the local mt. Ventoux every weekend.
Nailed it
Let’s not forget he made history with getting the polka dot jersey along with Nate. Something 2 Americans never did in the TDF before & back to back! That’s saying a lot & good for those guys. Good to see.
I don’t think he ever tried to jump in a breakaway.
Seriously? Did you sleep through stage 2? When you get around to watching, go ahead & also check how he did in the stage 1 & stage 20 time trials.
How many olympic games have you been to again? And how about grand tour finishes?
And this is relevant to how I feel, how?
But I get it, you been to both a lot.
lol, yeah man, I go to all of the olympics and all of the grand tours. I’m pretty much triathlons version of LeBron James actually. If you can’t detect sarcasm then you should probably just get off the internet, it’s not healthy.
The guy was clearly a big talent, and I understand he suffered a horrific injury that may change his perspective. But still… I am just not getting his jokester or hipster antics. Would love to see him be a little more serious and competitive a little more frequent.I agree with you - his humor simply wasn’t my kind of humor so the few videos I saw were never interesting to me. And I agree I wish we would have seem him more outside of those videos. Cannondale was never a team to ride in the front in the flat stages and in the mountains I never saw him.
Maybe… but I never saw much of him on TV or around Rigo. Sure, a day in the polka dot is good. All I am saying is that given how much talent we were told this guy has, I sure would love to see him keep his head down and race hard instead of doing all the extra stuff with the 70’s porn star look and those stupid video segments he did.
He does have loads of talent, but primarily in the track pursuit and time trial. But at 6’5 and 190, he will never be good at the Tour de France.
TP is good for cycling… yes he is goofy, weird, definitely a hipster and may never be a GC contender but maybe he’ll pull some millenials or the next generation off the couch and onto a bike because that don’t just see pompous stiffs talking about watts in their yellow jersey as the race up the local mt. Ventoux every weekend.
This. I’ve transitioned from the local tri scene to mtb over the last few seasons. Will I do a few tris in the future? Yeah, they’re fun (whoa, that word again). Will I join a club or group? Wouldn’t be so sure on that.
I was sucked in for awhile, but there’s something really nice and relaxing and peaceful about going for a ride and your biggest worry is seeing who can hit a drop to flat the furthest instead of worrying about titanium bolts and a gram here or there.
I still race my mountain bike, but I have fun with it. I don’t mind little bunny hops for the photogs, or joking around with other racers. Same way when I race tris, but definitely get a different vibe when I crack a joke to someone at a mountain bike race than a triathlon…
Long winded speech aside, I like phinney. Quirky, seems like he’s having a good time. And if he can get paid to have fun on a bike, good for him.
people forget that he won the opening stage (ITT) of the 2012 Giro and wore the Maglia Rosa for a few days. Dude could have died when he crashed off that descent at 2014 Nats; his recovery has been remarkable.
Just stop, if you don’t like him don’t watch his extras. He is trying to expose America to professional cycling. You might not like him but he appeals to a younger generation that NBC is trying to connect with he did well in both TTs and he had a day in polka. This is most riders dream tour let alone a first tour. Don’t be so cynical.
I pretty much saw each stage from the full stage NBCSN live broadcast each morning (TiVo’ed), and I never saw much of him in race action. I don’t think he ever tried to jump in a breakaway.
And judging by his final classification (159th, 4 hr 18 min behind), it’s clear he was dropped/gapped quite a bit even on flat stages.
I have no particular feelings one way or the other about Phinney, but just thought I’d point out that by suggesting we use his GC position and time to judge him you’re revealing a huge lack of understanding of how riders and teams operate in a grand tour. Overall GC ranking and time are irrelevant for most who are not riding for CG. Domestiques and sprinters, even world class domestiques and sprinters, lose massive amounts of time on many stages because their priority is not their own time. Sprint specialists generally have no interest in a mountain stage, they just need to get to the stage finish inside the cut-off time so they remain in the race for the next sprint stage. Therefore they’ll often arrive to the finish in a groupetto long after the stage winner. Domestiques will not pace themselves to achieve a good stage time unless they are required to support the team GC contender or sprinter near the finish. Often they best serve the team lead by burning their matches well before the finish making attacks, counter-attacks, providing leadsouts, etc. They are riding for their team lead and will knowingly sacrifice their own stage times for the advantage of their CG or sprint specialist team mates. Did you see Kwiatkowski in the mountains last week? He almost ground to a halt on one climb (Galibier?) after peeling off the front of the lead group having provided Froome and Sky with an excellent pull on the front designed to put contenders under pressure and defend against attacks. That’s not a reflection of inability, he rode superbly.
Are you aware that the Lantern Rouge is actually a somewhat coveted position?
I pretty much saw each stage from the full stage NBCSN live broadcast each morning (TiVo’ed), and I never saw much of him in race action. I don’t think he ever tried to jump in a breakaway.
And judging by his final classification (159th, 4 hr 18 min behind), it’s clear he was dropped/gapped quite a bit even on flat stages.
I have no particular feelings one way or the other about Phinney, but just thought I’d point out that by suggesting we use his GC position and time to judge him you’re revealing a huge lack of understanding of how riders and teams operate in a grand tour. This. And not just grand tours - bike races in general.
I agree with JT1000. Phinney’s final placement in the 2017 TdF has no bearing on his class as a bike racer.
He still has a long recovery from those horrible injuries and will continue to improve in the years to come. It’s amazing that he can even complete a grand tour already. The amount of time and effort he put in to simply be able to walk again is astounding.
He is well-respected in the peloton. If he can recover further, I am hopeful he’ll be a contender in the Spring Classics and a TT stage specialist.
Go on Taylor, let your Freak Flag Fly!
The winner of the green jersey Michael Matthews finished 2 hr 36 minutes and 36 seconds back in the GC.
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