Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) claimed the third professional US time trial championship of his career in a dominant performance on the 42km undulating course in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The 25-year-old topped Tom Zirbel (Rally Cycling) by more than a minute, with Zirbel narrowly defeating LottoNl-Jumbo's Alexey Vermeulen by two seconds to claim silver.
"It was super difficult and I didn't really have a lot of fun," Phinney said after scraping himself off the ground following his Herculean effort. "But that's how it is with a time trial and I signed myself up for this event, so I knew what I was getting myself into. Honestly I didn't really feel very good. It was a tough mental battle the whole way. I started out super confident and then lost almost all of my confidence, and then gained it back and then lost it again, and then by the time I was on the way to the finish I had my confidence back.
"It's easy to say that now but that's what happened. I thought I was going super slow and started to get a bit down. The course was also three kilometers longer than what it was supposed to be."
Phinney last won the title in 2014, just two days before a devastating crash in the championship road race took him out of action for more than a year. He's shown that he is back on track and worthy of the Olympic selection, should the national coaches give him the nod.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team | 1:02:46 |
| 2 | Thomas Zirbel (USA) Rally Cycling | 0:01:09 |
| 3 | Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team Lotto NL - Jumbo | 0:01:12 |
| 4 | Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team | 0:01:35 |
| 5 | Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling | 0:01:51 |
| 6 | Mac Brennan (USA) Holowesko | Citadel Racing Team p/b Hincapie Racing | 0:02:13 |
| 7 | Benjamin Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis | 0:02:33 |
| 8 | David Williams (USA) Astellas Cycling Team | 0:02:48 |
| 9 | Gregory Daniel (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman | 0:02:58 |
| 10 | Eamon Franck (USA) Astellas Cycling Team | 0:03:40 |
| 11 | Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko | Citadel Racing Team p/b Hincapie Racing | 0:03:41 |
| 12 | Taylor Shelden (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis | 0:05:19 |
| 13 | Michael Olheiser (USA) Lupus Racing Team | 0:05:49 |
| 14 | Bryan Lewis (USA) Lupus Racing Team | 0:07:21 |
| 15 | Julian Kyer (USA) UnitedHealthcare | 0:07:41 |
| 16 | Cory Greenberg (USA) Cylance-Cannondale Pro Cycling p/b Incycle | 0:08:26 |
| DNF | Johnathan Freter (USA) Astellas Cycling Team | Row 16 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis | Row 18 - Cell 2 |
| DSQ | Brendan Rhim (USA) Holowesko | Citadel Racing Team p/b Hincapie Racing | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
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