After a difficult first year of his professional career so far, in which he has suffered from concussion and knee problems, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) has finally taken his first pro victory. The 21-year-old American was by far the fastest rider over the tight, technical course in Amersfoort, Netherlands, netting the prologue of the Eneco Tour. Phinney was the only rider to finish the 5.7km course in less than seven minutes, clocking a time of 6’57” to take the first white jersey of the race.
On a course that suited both the punchy sprinters and track pursuiters, Phinney finished seven seconds quicker than Norwegian time trial champion, and double Tour de France stage winner, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky); former British champion David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo) was third, eight seconds back.
"I'm super, super happy," said Phinney. "I was surprised at how good I felt in my warm-up; I knew it was going to be a good day.
“This is a good race for me,” he continued. “Racing in Belgium and Holland is kind of my thing; It's what I love to do. There's another time trial in a couple days, so if I can try to hold onto the leader's jersey until then, I definitely will. We have great riders and great staff here, so I'm looking forward to the challenge."
With parts of the course still a little damp after overnight rain, the first to start was James Vanlandschoot (Verandas Willems-Accent), whose time of 7’58” was never likely to stay at the top for long. Sure enough, the early running was set by Robert Wagner (Leopard Trek), the sixth man to start, who finished in 7’15” to take the lead and set a mark that was to prove tough to beat.
It was to be more than an hour before anybody was to get close to Wagner’s time, as Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil-DCM) finished 6 seconds down with 7’21”. Just five riders later though, Jesse Sergent (RadioShack) finally knocked the German off the top with a time of 7’09”, six seconds faster.
Shortly afterwards Greg Henderson (Team Sky) went just 7 seconds slower than Sergent but, with the short, twisty course suiting the punchy sprinters, many time triallists found it hard to assert themselves. These names included Belgian champion Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM) who finished in 7’45”, and Fumiyuki Beppu (RadioShack), who went a little better with 7’33”.
To prove that the sprinters were faring better over the course Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervélo) posted 7’24”, and the very next rider, Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-SunGard), matched the American almost exactly.
The pursuit specialists were also going well over the short punchy course, with their ability to pace themselves over such a short distance; Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) posted 7’15” to go into second place, ahead of Wagner, but still six seconds shy of Sergent.
Jos van Emden (Rabobank) finally knocked the New Zealander off his perch, going one second quicker with a time of 7’08”. The former Dutch champion was to enjoy the race lead for less than a minute though, as Alex Rasmussen (HTC-Highroad) was the very next rider and he went faster still with 7’06”.
Rasmussen’s lead too, was shortlived as Phinney was out on the course, just four minutes behind him. The two-time former World pursuit champion smashed the Dane’s time by nine seconds, to post 6’57” and become the first rider to go under seven minutes.
Nobody from then looked as though they were going close to Phinney’s time, but Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), who has the overall Eneco Tour title in his sights, managed to finish in a surprisingly good 7’12”, proving that he has continued to hold his good form into the race.
David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo), who finished third in the 2007 race, was to prove to be the best of the conventional time triallists, finishing in 7’05”; still eight seconds slower than Phinney, but good enough for a provisional second place ahead of Rasmussen. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) knocked the former British champion down to third though, going a second quicker with 7’04”.
Local favourite Lars Boom (Rabobank), who already has the prologues of the tour of Oman and the Critérium du Dauphiné to his name so far this season, looked fast over the course. The former World cyclocross champion was not quite fast enough, though, finishing in 7’07”, ten seconds outside Phinney.
The young American had his first victory of the season confirmed a minute later as the final rider to start, German champion Bert Grabsch (HTC-Highroad) – grinding his characteristic big gears all the way around – could only manage 7’19” and slumped to 19th.