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.
Exactly what you said. He would be the perfect engine if they still had the 100K TTT. Horses for courses. In any case, there is no shame in being a TdF FINISHER. Held off the peloton till the final meters of an early stage when the sprinters are primed and got the KOM jersey at 190 lbs. He will have that in his Palmares for life.
Trivia question…who is the heaviest man to ever hold the KOM jersey? I don’t know the answer, but is it Taylor?
Just to put it in perspective, Eric Heiden who weighed the same at Taylor also did “nothing” special at the TdF. This is like asking someone who is 140 lbs to compete in the NFL…it’s not going to work out. TdF basically has 3-4 body types…mountain climber that is built like a pro marathoner, GC TTer built 10 lbs lighter than a Kona winner, Sprinter or all rounder, built around 10-15 lbs bigger than the GC TT guys, or short sprinter built 20 lbs bigger than the marathoner/climber (Coquard, Cavendish).
Anyone outside these size is wrong-sized for the Grand Tour to be anything but a helper of SOME stages. Taylor is basically wrong-sized to be a factor in a Grand Tour. No shame in that and more kudos when you don’t fit what is needed and still get it done.
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.
The Maglia Nera was a black jersey awarded as a symbolic prize in cycling competition at the Giro d’Italia, given to the last man to finish the race. It was allocated between 1946 and 1951.
There was real competition to win this particular jersey. Especially noted are the struggles between Sante Carollo and Luigi Malabrocca, to see who could waste the most time. Each tried to lose more time than the other by hiding in bars, barns, and behind hedges, or even by puncturing their own wheels.
My wife liked his segments, and I have to admit I laughed a few times was well. Its easy to be annoyed with the Velonews’ Phinney family obsession, but Taylor seems like he would be fun to race with.
“sick of” and “hate” are strong words here… I am more frustrated with him not being able to develop further given the talent he had, and seeming wasting energy away with non-racing stuff. I would rather see him keep his heads down and work hard, like the other American riders Talansky or Nate Brown or even Teejay. You don’t see them doing goofy video segments calling attention to themselves.
I like TJ and Talansky, but I would say that Phinney has had a more succesful career than both of them. 3x National TT champ. Won Tour of Dubai, a host of Pursuit World Championships and National Championships, a prologue and wore pink for 3 days at the Giro, and he has a ton of U23 wins to add. 2nd at World’s TT in 2012 and 4th in both TT and road race at London Olympics.
Compare that to TJ, who has a TDF white jersey, USA Pro Challenge (x2) and Tour of California, 2 stages at major week long races that I can see and 1 stage win in this years Giro.
Talansky has even less of a palmares with just a Dauphine win and 1 National TT title. He does have a nice sample of top 10s at decent week long races though.
I think comparing Phinney to those 2 is ridiculous because they are completely different types of riders. Phinney is never going to challenge in a GT, but in TT’s and one-day classics he has an incredible amount of talent.
All of this is just a long-winded explanation to say that you are full of shit. Those other two riders haven’t accomplished more than Phinney has even with keeping a lower profile.
Also, what’s wrong with calling attention to himself? He is going to need a career post-cycling isn’t he?
Younger generations don’t know about Lance, honestly. I am 31 and I barely remember him, other than the Oprah interview before I got into cycling.
I just think that if people are expecting a mass increase in cycling because of Taylor Phinney, it’s likely not going to happen. Cycling is just not a sport with mass appeal to Americans, it’s way too difficult.
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 kinda understand where you are coming from. I am guessing you are a little older than Taylor, as am I, it seems like many of “today’s youth” wanna be hipsters regardless of being cycling fans or not. If you think he is bad, you should have seen some or most of the 20 somethings I was racing against in road and CX, it seemed like 75% of them were wanna be hipsters and acted like it.
Taylor’s quirky, not exactly my cup of tea but I’m not annoyed by him. He can be whatever he wants, he’s come a long way from his injuries and I am glad to see that, I wish him well. I don’t care what he does off the bike as long as he’s not an a-hole. But again, I can understand where you are coming from.
My 12 year old daughter loves Taylor Phinney. She has watched every stage of the TDF with me and always looked for him and Nate Brown in the Peloton. She loved the quirky videos and told her friends all about the TDF.
Granted she is on a competitive MTB team and is doing junior cx this fall… I think it’s a great that youngsters can connect to cycling through people like Taylor. Cycling was definitely not something that I had a connection to when I was her age.
I personally love him and thought his segments and interviews were the most entertaining part of the tour. The TdF was on my TV in the background as I went about doing things around the house but I found myself rewinding all of Taylor’s segments.
Disclaimer: I don’t watch racing events (of any kind and at any level) as I don’t find them that entertaining. Taylor’s mannerisms are also very similar to a lot of my ski/surf friends - so he’s completely relatable.
