Im no Phinney fan '
Worth noting, it did take a sprint for him to win it, was not a particularly dominant win (although he won the sprint)
and as a slight reality check
1999 France Sébastien Joly
2000 Germany Eric Baumann
2001 Ukraine Yaroslav Popovych
2002 Russia Michail Timoschin
2003 Uzbekistan Sergey Lagutin
2004 Netherlands Koen de Kort
2005 Russia Dmitry Kozontchuk
2006 Netherlands Tom Veelers
2007 France Damien Gaudin
2008 Netherlands Coen Vermeltfoort
2009 United States Taylor Phinney
2010 United States Taylor Phinney
success at u-23 level does not guarantee success at a higher level, and as noted some of the better under 23 riders have gone to full pro-tour teams, Bobridge, Kennaugh, Sagan. So its pretty hard to judge if hes actually that good.
Hes a decent rider, not seen enough of him to say wether hes a future star. The next big thing? Dunno.. jury's still out.
Bobridge on the other hand, seems class, both on and off the bike.