Taylor Phinney’s first day wearing a Grand Tour leader’s jersey brought many good emotions, but also some nervous ones; a crash with eight kilometres remaining knocked him to the ground, then further delayed him when his chain came off.
The BMC Racing Team rider got help and was able to restart; after a lung-busting chase, he managed to get up to some team-mates, who then brought him back into the peloton and up towards the front.
“It was fairly nervous today – it was a little bit windier than we thought,” the young American said after the finish. “All the GC guys were fighting to be at the front, I was fighting to be at the front. I had a lot of help from my team and I was grateful for that.”
Phinney’s dominant victory in yesterday’s time trial earned him the Maglia Rosa and saw him become the youngest leader of the race since Laurent Fignon 30 years ago. He started the day determined to defend the race lead, and also had another aim in mind.
“I was trying to stay safe and I was going to try to help Thor [Hushovd] out,” he explained. “He finished seventh today, so that is pretty good.”
However his plans to lead out the Norwegian ended in an instant. “With eight kilometres to go I found myself on the ground, having touched wheels and lost balance," he explained. "I hit the ground, then I couldn't get my chain back on. So I kind of made a second prologue effort at the end of the stage.”
Phinney initially received some assistance from the BMC Racing Team car, which gave him an initial boost in his chase. Then, once he made his way through the convoy and got closer to the bunch, had others who aided him. “I had a lot of help from Ballan and Danilo Wyss, who were really like motorcycles in bringing me back to the pack,” he said. “I was quite scared there for a second that I was going to lose the jersey, but we made it back and we live to fight another day.”
Once back, he had to keep going. “At that point, you also worry about splits in the pack. You can't really give a sigh of relief once you get to the back of the pack,” he continued. “You have to get to the front. Then there was another crash with 500 meters to go. At that point I was hoping that they would give everyone the same time.”
The race judges did indeed do that. The American ends today nine second ahead of Geraint Thomas (Sky Procycling), his closest rival, and a further four seconds up on Alex Rasmussen (Garmin Barracuda). And while Mark Cavendish took some bonus seconds for his victory, he was too far back after the prologue to be of any threat at all.
Phinney faces another flat, fast stage tomorrow in Horsens. If he holds the lead again, he and the BMC Racing Team will start Wednesday’s team time trial in Verona at the top of the leaderboard. The squad is expected to ride very well there, and could potentially further increase Phinney’s advantage.
While he doesn’t expect to hold the lead after the first climbs begin, the experience in pink is very important for his career, as well as being highly motivating.