Taylor Phinney Discussion Thread

[53x11 in DC]

This is simply horrible. Man, do I feel for the kid.

Get well soon, Taylor. There will be many more TT's, Monuments and Tours for you to contest.

 

[Afrank]

Mother****ER!!!!! No Tour for Phinney.

Broken leg is really serious, really hope he can come back.

 

[Arnout]

It's lower leg apparently, that should be less of a problem than hip or something. Hopefully it's not a complicated fracture.

 

[Afrank]

Gesink was upper leg, correct?

 

[gerundium]

Gesink was upper leg, correct?

yeah i think so.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

gesink did break his leg in 3 places tho.
all depends on how complicated the break is.
Gesink did come back but never achieved his old level after that fall.

Hope Phinney is better off

 

[manafana]

hopefully it is a clean and lower leg break so he can heal up quickly just shows you how like that cycling can take it away from you

 

[mr. tibbs]

Someone commented on the CN story that the crash was caused by a motorcycle slowing for the turn. Is that true? Anyone know more details?

 

[53x11 in DC]

Tour Tracker hosts said they talked to Davis (this being reported as the race was still going on). In for surgery for a compound lower leg fracture, caused by a slowed moto.

 

[Carols]

BMC statement:

BMC Racing Team's Taylor Phinney broke his left lower leg in two places and injured his knee after crashing on the descent of Lookout Mountain Monday at the USA Cycling professional road championships.

Undergoing Surgery
Phinney crashed on a left-hand turn approximately 43 kilometers into the 165.5-km race. BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa said Phinney was undergoing surgery Monday night at a Chattanooga hospital for injuries that included a tib-fib fracture of his left lower leg, and an injury to the same knee.

 

[Afrank]

Any medical people on the forum that can tell us how serious of an injury that is? Any chance of recovering in time for worlds?

You know, when I see the title of this thread, I think this is more of a "No, Phinney!" Moment.

 

[Race Radio]

Any medical people on the forum that can tell us how serious of an injury that is? Any chance of recovering in time for worlds?

You know, when I see the title of this thread, I think this is more of a "No, Phinney!" Moment.

Doubt it. It is bad. 4-6 weeks in a cast. Also they may not be able to address the knee issue for a while.

Not good

 

[The Hitch]

A real shame.

Hope there's no pressure on him to return so he can spend the rest of the season +the entire offseason on recovery, slowly but surely.

 

[Jancouver]

Sorry to hear about his misfortune and I'm hoping and wishing him full and speedy recovery!

 

[Granville57]

This really is horrible news. Leg fractures can be damaging enough, but I would think that knee damage as well would cause even greater concern. I do wish him the best, and as speedy a recovery as is possible.

In light of this very unfortunate event, perhaps a mod could change the name of this thread to simply "Taylor Phinney"?

I'm certain this will get bumped as his progress becomes known, and hopefully there will be reason to cheer for him again, but until then it might be appropriate to alter the title.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Sad to see this was how Taylor's race had to end.
pretty awful crash and RR is right..his knee is a whole other matter..that was a high speed impact.
Hope he heals well..

 

[Scott SoCal]

Doubt it. It is bad. 4-6 weeks in a cast. Also they may not be able to address the knee issue for a while.

Not good

I had a tb/fib fracture. Clean break, no surgery and it was nine months before it felt 100%.

I had major knee reconstruction, ACL, MCL, medial and lateral meniscus re-attach and was racing in 12 weeks.

Soft tissue can take more recovery time than bone but that was not my experience.

Let's hope the knee isn't too complicated because it will be very difficult to start any rehab of the knee with his tib/fib fracture.

 

[mewmewmew13]

I had a tb/fib fracture. Clean break, no surgery and it was nine months before it felt 100%.

I had major knee reconstruction, ACL, MCL, medial and lateral meniscus re-attach and was racing in 12 weeks.

Soft tissue can take more recovery time than bone but that was not my experience.

Let's hope the knee isn't too complicated because it will be very difficult to start any rehab of the knee with his tib/fib fracture.

ouch!
sounds awful

it seems as if TP has had knee probs before at least a couple of times..
not sure if it was same knee and don't know which one this is..but knees seem way more problematic than a leg fracture...but I'm no doctor and I don't know.
ugh ..no fun

 

[asdfgh101]

Cycling is one of the few sports where tearing your ACL isn't catastrophic.

 

[Granville57]

This sounds like it was a rather terrifying event, in addition to being very serious.

Euser confirms race motorcycle caused crash with Phinney
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/euser-confirms-race-motorcycle-caused-crash-with-phinney

“The last thing I remember seeing was the moto swerving back left-to-right, and then Taylor having to go inside on the corner, and then crashing,”

“And he was screaming like I've never heard anyone scream before. I could see the extent of the injuries rather gruesomely, and I knew he needed somebody to be there for a second.”

Monday's crash was the result of a “perfect storm” of bad things happening at just the wrong time, Euser said. But he's also started to notice more crashes in the peloton – bigger crashes, more severe crashes, and a lot of things that “seem like they shouldn't be happening, but they are.”

What the hell is going on in this sport?

 

[Yingge]

This sounds like it was a rather terrifying event, in addition to being very serious.

Euser confirms race motorcycle caused crash with Phinney
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/euser-confirms-race-motorcycle-caused-crash-with-phinney

What the hell is going on in this sport?

I always worry about these Moto's being so close to the riders, particularly on technical descents where the riders generally catch the Moto. The organisers of races need to ensure that there is a decent safety gap, and enforce same. There also seems to be a large number of Moto's for photos only - get rid of most of them for a start and tell the various parties to share the photos taken.

I dont suppose the Moto driver concerned will be compensating Phinney (and BMC) for the financial cost of his mistake (assuming of course he is deemed to be at fault).

Not just Moto's of course, remember Hoogerland and the Fence!!!

Good luck to Phinney, I hope the pain subsides quickly and he makes a full recovery, though it seems like his season may have ended.


(As an aside, I remember seeing a video some 15 years or so ago, where a Moto took down about 4-5 on a descent somewhere. Fortunately they all got up, and then started running towards the Moto, which had stopped down the road - the Moto quickly took off. I wonder if he showed up the next day).

 

[michel700c]

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Spectator's photo shows moto as Phinney goes down.

 

[Afrank]

6-8 weeks recovery before Phinney can start riding...a stationary bike, that is.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/doctors-give-phinney-six-to-eight-weeks-recovery-time

 

[hiero2]

6-8 weeks recovery before Phinney can start riding...a stationary bike, that is.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/doctors-give-phinney-six-to-eight-weeks-recovery-time

The accident was gutting.

Now, I'll tell ya - I got slammed by a car at about 24 - compound calf fractures. Actually - the leg was inside out. Gag me, and I was there. But I had no joint damage, which meant I was pretty much good to go after a few months.

Phinney may be different.
1) he is competing at the top levels. Maintaining peak performance at that level of competition is quite difficult already. This may be a complicating factor.
2) Phinney apparently had soft tissue damage. This can change the whole story. In spite of having my leg inside out, and looking at it, I had no tendon or ligament or joint damage (what I am calling soft tissue - not muscle, not bone). Joint damage could be more likely to be a limiting factor in the future. Joint damage does not heal in the way that bones and muscles do.

I can seriously relate to his gratefulness to Euser for sticking by him. You get incredibly emotional in the moment that your body is inside out. It is a REAL big "oh, ****, what did I do now" moment. The only moment bigger is the one you do not survive.

 

[hiero2]

This sounds like it was a rather terrifying event, in addition to being very serious.

Euser confirms race motorcycle caused crash with Phinney
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/euser-confirms-race-motorcycle-caused-crash-with-phinney

What the hell is going on in this sport?

One thing - I think there have always been a fair amount of accidents - but because media coverage of the whole event sucked - media coverage of minor riders crashing got even less attention. On the other hand, today, races get more media coverage, and more money (!!!), and riders get more money today. Thus we also see riders taking more risk on a regular basis. At the moment, I am thinking there are a FEW more crashes today - not many. But, we get to SEE them - and we didn't before. Still, it will require some adaptation by race mgmt to reduce risk.