Phinney suffers concussion in training crash

Taylor Phinney is recovering from mild concussion suffered in a training accident Friday. The BMC Racing Team rider is said to be be doing fine but will remain under medical monitoring at his home in Lucca, Italy.

Phinney was training near Lucca with Garmin-Cervelo's Andrew Talansky on Friday when the two crossed wheels while turning a corner.

"We kind of got jumbled. It was a freak accident," Phinney said in a statement issued by his BMC team. "The next thing we knew, we found ourselves flipping over our bikes and onto the ground. All I remember was smacking my head pretty hard.”

"I definitely have to thank the people at Bell because if hadn't been wearing my helmet, I would have suffered a pretty bad injury."

The 20-year-old rode home and then got in touch with BMC team doctor Max Testa, who did a long-distance examination.

"We did some simple tests for balance and co-ordination over Skype, which he passed," Testa said. "Now we're just monitoring him closely. If he's feeling OK on Saturday, we'll see if he can spin on the trainer without developing a headache and then we'll go from there.”

"We will need some time to fully evaluate the extent of the crash and then we'll make a decision on how to organise his training and racing."

Phinney made his full professional debut with BMC at the Tour of Oman after a knee injury disrupted his early season training.