Taylor Phinney

Taylor Carpenter-Phinney (born June 27, 1990) is an American professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2019 for the , and teams. He retired from cycling in 2019 but after years of retirement started racing on gravel and then was on the four-member team that won the team pursuit at the U.S. National Track Championships in August 2026. Phinney specialized in time trials on the road as well as the individual pursuit on the track, winning the world title in the discipline in 2009 and 2010.

Early life and amateur career Phinney was born on June 27, 1990, to former professional road cyclist and Olympic medal-winner Davis Phinney and former Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist and speed skater Connie Carpenter-Phinney.

In 2007 at the age of 16, Phinney began racing on Team Slipstream's junior squad. Slipstream team manager Jonathan Vaughters signed Phinney to the team before he had competed in a race, having heard word-of-mouth reports about Phinney's ability on group rides in Boulder. It was at this time that Phinney was introduced to track cycling. In August 2007, he won the World Junior Championships time trial title. Since then, Phinney has competed in National, World Cup and World Championship events for track cycling. Phinney finished seventh in the individual pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Later that year, at the U.S. National Track Championships, he won gold medals in the elite one kilometer time trial, individual pursuit and team pursuit races.

Professional career

Trek–Livestrong (2009–2010) On September 24, 2008, Lance Armstrong announced that Phinney had made the under-23 team, which was organized by the group that managed Armstrong's. On March 26, 2009, Phinney won the individual pursuit at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and, again, at the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on March 25, 2010. Phinney then switched his focus to the road, winning the Paris–Roubaix Espoirs, the Olympia's Tour overall, in addition to the first four stages and time trials in Tour de l'Avenir and Tour of Utah.

On July 29, 2010, it was announced that Phinney and teammates Jesse Sergent and Clinton Avery would ride in the Tour of Denmark for , riding as stagiaires.

BMC Racing (2011–2016)

On September 22, 2010, the announced that Phinney would become part of BMC in 2011, joining a team that included Cadel Evans, George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan. The highlight of Phinney's first season with BMC was a fourth-place finish in the Eneco Tour.

Phinney started the 2012 season by helping his team win the Giro del Trentino's team time trial, where he wore the leader's jersey for a day. His early target for the 2012 season was the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia, which he duly won to wear the leader's jersey, the maglia rosa, becoming just the third American to do so following Andrew Hampsten in 1988 and Christian Vande Velde in 2008. Phinney then switched his focus to the Olympic Games, targeting the road race and time trial, where he finished fourth in each event. He would go on to win the stage-seven individual time trial of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Phinney participated in the 2012 UCI World Road Race Championships. He was part of the six-man BMC team that took silver in the team time trial. Phinney also finished second to Tony Martin in the individual event, missing out on becoming World Champion by five seconds.

Amidst the turmoil of the Lance Armstrong–USADA affair, Phinney sent a tweet congratulating his teammate Steve Cummings for his stage win at the Tour of Beijing, saying "He [Cummings], like me, follows his own personal policy of no caffeine pills and no painkillers. Purest of the pure!" Phinney later explained his comment by stating that although legal, caffeine pills and mild painkillers were often used in the peloton during races, and that some riders even crushed them and mixed them in water bottles. He stated that he was entirely against that practice and doping in general.

At the end of 2015, Phinney participated in "Thereabouts 2", with Angus Morton, Lachlan Morton and Cameron Wurf. "Thereabouts 2" was an adventure-related cycling trip from Boulder, Colorado to Moab, Utah, while attempting to realize what makes cycling so special: adventure, friendship and a lack of structure.

Phinney spent the early part of the 2016 season recovering from his injuries, making his first race appearance of the year at the Tour du Haut Var in February and subsequently racing in the spring classics before returning from Europe to his native Colorado. In May 2016 Phinney took his third national time trial title in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, beating runner-up Tom Zirbel by over a minute: Phinney expressed satisfaction with the result and his performance, hoping that it would help him secure selection for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He competed at the Olympics, but despite entering the road time trial with hopes of a medal, he finished 22nd, over five minutes behind winner Fabian Cancellara.

Cannondale–Drapac Pro Cycling Team (2017–2019) In September 2016 Phinney confirmed that he had agreed an initial two-year deal with from the 2017 season, with a focus on competing in the classics and aiming to race in the 2017 Tour de France. In June 2017, he was named in the start list for the 2017 Tour de France, marking his debut in the race. In an interview ahead of the Tour Phinney stated that he was still undergoing therapy to deal with the effects of his injuries, and said that the power output from his left side was almost 25 percent down on that from his right side when making an explosive effort. Phinney was leading the mountains classification and wearing the polka dot jersey competition on stage 2.

Retirement In October 2019 Phinney announced that he would retire from professional racing at the end of the 2019 season. He cited the ongoing effects of an injury he suffered in 2014 as a reason for his retirement.

Return to the track In April 2026, Phinney announced that he was returning to track cycling, aiming to represent the United States at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Personal life Since 2016, Phinney has been in a relationship with Polish professional cyclist Katarzyna Niewiadoma. The pair married in May 2024. Phinney's father is American retired cyclist Davis Phinney, who won two Tour de France stages in the 1980s. Phinney's mother is American retired racing cyclist and speed skater Connie Carpenter-Phinney who won four medals in World Cycling Championship competitions (both road and track cycling) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She also won the gold medal in the cycling road race at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as twelve U.S. national championships. She remains the youngest American woman to compete at the Winter Olympics.

Major results Road

2007 1st Time trial, UCI World Junior Championships Tour de l'Abitibi 1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 2 2009 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs 1st Stage 1 Flèche du Sud 2010 (3 pro wins) 1st Time trial, UCI World Under-23 Championships 1st Time trial, National Championships 1st Overall Olympia's Tour 1st Prologue, Stages 1, 2 & 3 Tour of Utah 1st Prologue & Stage 3 (ITT) 1st Paris–Roubaix Espoirs 1st Stage 2b Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux 1st Stage 4 Tour of the Gila 1st Prologue Tour de l'Avenir 2011 (1) 4th Overall Eneco Tour 1st Prologue 2012 (2) Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 1 (ITT) Held after Stages 1–3 1st Stage 7 (ITT) USA Pro Cycling Challenge 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Giro del Trentino UCI World Championships

3rd Chrono des Nations Olympic Games 4th Road race 4th Time trial 2013 (1) 1st Stage 4 Tour de Pologne 3rd Overall Tour of Qatar 1st Young rider classification 1st Stage 2 (TTT) 3rd Giro di Toscana 5th Time trial, UCI World Championships 7th Milan–San Remo 2014 (4) 1st Time trial, National Championships 1st Overall Dubai Tour 1st Young rider classification 1st Stage 1 (ITT) 1st Stage 5 Tour of California 7th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2015 (1)

1st Stage 1 USA Pro Cycling Challenge 2016 (1) 1st Time trial, National Championships 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stage 5 (TTT) Eneco Tour

2017 Tour de France Held after Stage 2 2018 8th Paris–Roubaix 2019 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour Colombia

Grand Tour general classification results timeline Grand Tour 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Giro d'Italia — 155 DNF — — — — — Tour de France — — — — — — 159 136 Vuelta a España DNF — — — — — — —

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish IP In Progress

Track

2007 1st Individual pursuit, National Championships 2008

National Junior Championships 1st Individual pursuit 1st Kilo 1st Team pursuit 2009 UCI World Championships

National Championships 1st Individual pursuit 1st Points race 1st Team pursuit UCI World Cup Classics 1st Individual pursuit 1st Kilo 2010 UCI World Championships

2026 1st Team pursuit, National Championships