After seeing the host cities announced for the second edition of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) expressed interest in competing in the race, an idea that his father Davis would support completely.
Along with the US Pro Cycling Challenge, Taylor Phinney stated that he is aiming for the USA road race team for the Olympics, and he has left open the possibility of racing on the track for the American team in London as well. His preparation for these races, and the possibility of going back to the Eneco Tour, a race in which he finished fourth overall in 2011, begs the question as to whether or not the Pro Cycling Challenge will fit in his schedule.
“He wants to come here this coming year," Davis Phinney said about his son in an interview with The Daily Camera. "I think that it would be great for him to ride here. But it will just depend on how the season goes and what happens with the Olympics and what happens with his spring schedule. He's got quite an ambitious schedule the first five months of the year.”
After beginning his season in Qatar and Oman, Phinney figures to be a factor in BMC Racing’s spring Classics campaign. The American team is much revamped for 2012 with the additions of Philippe Gilbert and Thor Hushovd.
These two join with Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan, and Paris-Tours winner Greg Van Avermaet in the one-day races. But after twice winning the U23 Paris-Roubaix, Phinney should be an integral part of the team in the early season.
The new Tour that takes the peloton through Colorado harkens back to the days of the Coors Classic, and last year’s inaugural race drew some of the best ProTeam squads in the world. Levi Leipheimer (Radioshack) took the overall classification ahead of Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) and Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad).
Phinney’s team-mate George Hincapie won stage two and finished fourth overall, and while Phinney knows the overall classification isn’t suited to him, he is excited at the prospect of racing on the same roads as his father. Davis Phinney is enthused at the idea as well.
“To have a race of this magnitude coming back even bigger and stronger than the Coors Classic, I couldn't be more excited for fans of cycling and people who have had a history with Boulder,” he added. “I feel like we deserve to have the race here and I'm just glad it all worked out with the race organizing committee.”
The 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge quickly became known for its mountainous terrain, some of which tackled altitudes not seen in Europe. Though the first edition of the race did feature three flat finishes, all three were taken out by Team Liquigas-Cannondale. Elia Viviani hit fine form and won stages four and five, and his lead-out man Daniel Oss won stage six. Davis Phinney believes that, even if his son won’t have a road stage suited to his skill-set, there will be one target should Taylor race in Colorado.
“This kind of mountainous race would not favor him as an overall title contender and not many of the stages would favor him,” he concluded. “But he did comment the other night to (his mom) Connie via text, when they announced all the host cities, that he was intending to win the final time trial in Denver. He's pretty good at calling his shots and he usually backs them up. But we'll see.”