With tomorrow’s time trial a big goal for him, BMC Racing Team rider Taylor Phinney has continued today in the Eneco Tour a little stiff and sore after a fall during yesterday’s third stage of the race.
Phinney was caught unawares with over 100 kilometres left to cover, hitting the deck as the result. “I’m feeling all right. I’ve felt better but I’ve also felt worse. Two sides of the coin. The crash happened just in a moment where I thought I was safe, right up in the front.
“Some guys touched wheels, it's nervous in the bunch, so there's a lot of really heavy, sudden braking,” he said after the stage. “I just found myself on the wrong side of somebody's wheel. I tried to hold it up but I’m a big unit and I fall hard.”
He picked himself up and received important help from his team-mates. “I have to thank the team, they put up with me today. Danilo Wyss was really great, helping me get back into the field. I crashed right before a major split happened and Daniel Oss, Amaël Moinard, Manuel Quinziato and again, Danilo, rode really hard to make it back," he said. "I'm really thankful to them.”
After that, he remained out of trouble until the end of the stage, placing sixtieth and dropping two seconds to stage winner Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) and two others.
That saw him slip from sixth to eighth. However a more pressing issue was that he was hurt, although fortunately not too badly.
“The road rash isn't too bad, but I hit my head a little bit and I've got to be careful of that because I have had head injuries in the past,” Phinney said. “But I don't think it is anything too bad. I’m not struggling to find words, I know where I am all the time.
“I will be okay, it was a stressful day. I am glad that it is over.”
Phinney tweeted about his feelings this morning, saying that he felt relatively okay. “10 hrs sleep last night. Neck's a bit stiff but life would be boring if everything went perfectly! TT tmrw. Lets stay safe out there boys...”
He won the prologue of the Eneco Tour two years ago and finished fourth overall. He’s psyched to try to win tomorrow’s 13.2 kilometre time trial to Geleen.
The race is part of his buildup towards the world time trial championships. Phinney was a silver medallist last year and with the 2013 course being perfectly suited to him, is highly motivated for that target.