Talented young riders get a chance to impress at ProTour level
Double Under 23 Paris-Roubaix winner Taylor Phinney is one of three talented young riders who will take a big step towards the ProTour ranks next week, commencing a trial with the RadioShack team.
Phinney has marked himself out as one of the brightest prospects in the sport, with those Paris-Roubaix titles and two world championship individual pursuit wins as standouts from an already-impressive palmares. The 20 year old has taken several other wins in 2010, including four out of seven stages plus the overall title in the Olympias Tour in Holland, stage four of the Tour of the Gila and a stage of the Triptyque de Monts et Châteaux.
He is the son of Davis Phinney, the first American to win a road stage of the Tour de France, and of 1984 Olympic road race champion Connie Carpenter-Phinney.
He will be joined by Trek-Livestrong team-mate Jesse Sergent and Clinton Avery, who has been racing with the PWS Eijssen team this year.
Sergent finished second to Phinney in the world championship individual pursuit this year, and highlighted his power against the clock when he beat Levi Leipheimer and Dave Zabriskie to win the time trial in the Tour of the Gila. The 22 year old also won the prologue in the Cascade Cycling Classic and is the holder of an Olympic team pursuit bronze medal.
Kiwi compatriot Avery is a former mountain bike rider who has used that skill to net three top-ten finishes in the Under 23 Paris-Roubaix. The 22 year old took the overall classification of the Tour of Vlaams-Brabant in 2009, and this year won the Vlaamse Pijl.
RadioShack general manager Johan Bruyneel believes that the trio will make a strong impression, although he says that none of them are as yet guaranteed a place on the team for 2011.
“All three riders are classy young riders. They have a lot of potential,” he said. “We believe in them and are hoping this works out and can lead to something permanent next year. So far none of the three riders has a guaranteed place in our 2011 team but this is already a step forward in their development as a pro-rider.
“In the meantime we work further on the future of Team RadioShack. We are currently negotiating with other potential future riders for our 2011 team.”
The programme for Phinney, Sergent and Avery has been laid out and begins with the Tour of Denmark, which runs from August 4th -8th. That will be followed by the Tour du Poitou-Charentes (August 24th-27th), the Classic de l’Indre (August 29th), the Grand Prix Jef Scherens/Leuven (September 5th), the Memorial Van Steenbergen/Aartselaar (September 8th), Paris-Brussels (September 11th), the Grand Prix Fourmies (September 12th), the Grand Prix de Wallonie (September 15th), Koolskamp (September 17th) and the Grand Prix Isbergues (September 19th).
Meanwhile Tour de France rider Levi Leipheimer will lead the team in the Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday. He will be joined by Mathew Busche, Markel Irizar, Geoffroy Lequatre, Jason McCartney, José Luis Rubiera & Haimar Zubeldia.
A squad of riders will also be riding the Tour of Poland, which starts on Sunday.