Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) scored his first win after 14 months of recovery from injury Monday during the opening stage of the USA Pro Challenge in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
The Colorado native launched his sprint in the final few hundred metres to win the bunch sprint ahead of Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare). Phinney’s teammate Brent Bookwalter finished third. Phinney is now the first yellow jersey wearer of the 2015 race. Phinney finished third last week in Utah during his very first race back in competition, but the win in his home state was obviously quite a bit more special.
"I was pretty much blown away crossing the finish line," the 25-year-old American said in the post-race press conference. "I think it’s going to take a little while to process fully the whole day. I can tell you the feeling crossing the finish line and the roar of the crowd was really special and really emotional. It was kind of that electric moment we all live for."
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UnitedHealthcare led into the final kilometre of the stage after chasing down a late attack from BMC's Rohan Dennis and Optum Pro Cycling's Guillaume Boivin, the lone survivor of the day's breakaway. The last-ditch effort cost Reijnen's team, however, as his sprint train ran out of steam in the finale and was unable to respond to the late attacks.
"I think I had the most guys of any team there," Reijnen said of the final few kilometres. "They rode phenomenally to bring Rohan back and Guillaume. That was a really powerful move, and you saw how much it cost us."
Bookwalter said the finish was chaotic, which may have aided his and Phinney's podium efforts.
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