Video: Phinney targets stage win at his Tour de France debut

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BMC Racing’s Taylor Phinney has big goals for his debut at the 2014 Tour de France scheduled to begin on July 5 in Yorkshire and end on July 27 along the Champs-Élysée in Paris. The young American pro goes into the race with the crucial role of aiding his fellow countryman Tejay Van Garderen in his bid for the yellow jersey, however, he also has his sights set on winning the penultimate stage, a 54km time trial from Bergerac to Périgueux.

In our latest video, Phinney discusses his parents - decorated cyclists Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter - and his future in professional bike racing. He has aspired to become a strong time trials and Spring Classics rider like Fabian Cancellara but the former Giro d’Italia leader is now turning his attention to the Tour de France.

“A 50-plus-kilometer time trial by itself is already pretty terrible but a 50-plus-kilometer time trial at the end of the Tour de France is going to be absolutely brutal,” Phinney said. “I think there will be a lot of time trial training under fatigue for me in the next couple of months because, for sure, that is a big opportunity on the penultimate day of the Tour de France.”

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