What's up with CyclingNews' love affair with Taylor Phinney?

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

but stuey does have other road results to back it up... phinney seems to have the one road result standing out in the middle of a bunch of track races..

The kid isn't even 20 yet. Give him time, he just made the commitment to race road full-time this year. You're comparing him to the palmares of a rider that's been racing for almost 20 years.

 

[42x16ss]

but stuey does have other road results to back it up... phinney seems to have the one road result standing out in the middle of a bunch of track races..

That may just be because Phinney is all of 19 years old and only starting to switch his focus from track to road....

More results will come.

 

[Mellow Velo]

The kid isn't even 20 yet. Give him time, he just made the commitment to race road full-time this year. You're comparing him to the palmares of a rider that's been racing for almost 20 years.

Which, I think, is the point of this thread, well made.

 

[Anonymous]

oh i just wondered.. i know nothing about the guy except for the facts hes borrowing some rainbow stripes from GT...

although looking at the previous PRu23 winners he will have to break from the norm if he is going to have a succesful career.. with the exception of hushovd and popovich, the u23 race has hardly guaranteed future success..

 

[il_fiammingo]

oh i just wondered.. i know nothing about the guy except for the facts hes borrowing some rainbow stripes from GT...

although looking at the previous PRu23 winners he will have to break from the norm if he is going to have a succesful career.. with the exception of hushovd and popovich, the u23 race has hardly guaranteed future success..

The fact that no Belgian has won the U23 race since 1997 shows how relative this all is.

Voeckler beating Boonen for 2nd in 2000; that says is all.

 

[issoisso]

The fact that no Belgian has won the U23 race since 1997 shows how relative this all is.

Voeckler beating Boonen for 2nd in 2000; that says is all.

Under-23 races tend to be like that. Raivis "Dropped on each speedbump" Belohvosciks won LBL u-23....twice!

 

[Anonymous]

He's a CN diarist, so he's going to be in the carousel a fair bit - like every time he submits a diary. It's the same as Andy S, Liz Hatch et al.

There's also a lot of interest in him from our North American audience - whether that be because of the family name or his potential and association with Trek-Livestrong.

Cheers
Greg Johnson

And just in case you guys were not aware, cyclingnews.com is a for profit company, so posting articles and diary entries of people of interest to people who will possibly click on an ad and buy something from that company is kind of the point. Phinney has talent, and Americans are no different that people from other countries, we like to read about riders who were born here. Its funny, nationalistic pride is not a foreign concept in any of your countries, but it is only ours that is offensive? Xenophobia is ugly coming from anyone.

 

[Anonymous]

More Liz, less Phinney, please.

Someone pursuade Liz to submit more pictures.

There, fixed that for you.

 

[kurtinsc]

but stuey does have other road results to back it up... phinney seems to have the one road result standing out in the middle of a bunch of track races..

I hadn't been following Phinney that much, but I took the time to look up his results after reading this thread.

Let me be the first to admit... I know NOTHING about under 23 or Junior races. But here are his results from events I assume are on the road the past 3 years:

2009:
Trofee Jong Maar Moedig - 5th
Tour des Pays de Savoie. stage 1 - 5th
Paris - Roubaix Espoirs - 1st
Flèche du Sud, state 1 - 3rd
Flèche du Sud, prologue - 1st
ZLM Tour - 5th
Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux - Frasnes, GC - 9th

2008:
Tour du Pays de Vaud, stage 3 part b - 1st

2007:
Tour de l'Abitibi... 1st in GC, won 2 stages, 2nd in 1 stage, 3rd in 2 stages.


Obviously not near his results on the track... but it actually looks similar to what a primarily track rider like Bradley Wiggins did early in his career in the under 23 road races (though again I'm just looking at numbers... I really can't judge the results against each other that well).

 

[Ferminal]

And just in case you guys were not aware, cyclingnews.com is a for profit company, so posting articles and diary entries of people of interest to people who will possibly click on an ad and buy something from that company is kind of the point. Phinney has talent, and Americans are no different that people from other countries, we like to read about riders who were born here. Its funny, nationalistic pride is not a foreign concept in any of your countries, but it is only ours that is offensive? Xenophobia is ugly coming from anyone.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cyclingnews.com#trafficstats

~45% US viewership.

In other words, we foreigners should be happy that it's not 45% devotion to US stories/riders/races.

And personally I'd rather much read about a young American prospect than one of the fossils.

 

[dolophonic]

Interesting link.

 

[thehog]

Is it just me, or do others think they give the guy more press than he deserves? I'm not saying he isn't very good and an apparently up and coming rider, but it just seems that he gets a bit more press than you'd expect.

Like I said, is it just me? What do you think?

I've been concerned about cyclingnews for sometime now. These days they appear second to the news, selectively printing what they want and still are yet to print any of the "Armstrong stole the team car" stories from the Tour.

Instead theere's a steady stream of press releases from the Armstrong camp including Bruyneels swipes at Alberto.

Many riders including Contador refuses to deal with Cyclingnews anymore.

This story for example: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-concedes-tour-win-will-be-tougher-in-2010

is straight from Reuters. Its just a reprint.

Where's are the journalists at Cyclingnews? Don't they have an opinion anymore?

Now we get Lance attack and Taylor "on the program now" Phinney? Huh? Where's the story in this?

Cyclingnews should be renamed The Paceline. Its a better fit.

 

[Christian]

but stuey does have other road results to back it up... phinney seems to have the one road result standing out in the middle of a bunch of track races..

Too bad he fell and lost a lot of time in the Flèche du Sud, it would have been interesting to see how he would have done otherwise!

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

I don't think Phinney gets too much face time. Much of it has to do with his blogs on the site (which I read). When he stops writing those, he'll be covered no more that any other up and coming cyclist with pedigree and potential.

 

[Oldman]

hes only really world champion by default.. the brits forgot to turn up.. that sorry mess will soon be rectified..

im trying to work out how someone goes from being a pursuit rider and track specialist to winning the u23 paris roubaix (and nothing else) on the road..

Didn't he break a World record or something lame like that. Shame on the Americans for emphasizing anything in this PC world.

 

[flicker]

Taylor P. has awesome genetics. Is the world pursuit championship hard?

I would say give the lid the coverage. He is being groomed to be other type champions. Rainbow in road and TT

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Was a huge Davis fan in the day. Hope Taylor does well, but is a bit overexposed.

The American kid with good genes I really am curious to see how well he grows is Peter Stetina. Nice to see him flying under the radar.

As per Velonews, I thought they gave up serious cycling journalism a few years ago. CN has stuck to it better while moving forward.

 

[GilTeamS&M]

Which, I think, is the point of this thread, well made.

No. The point of this thread is that for a kid of 19 years, he gets too much coverage.

Poor guy already seems to have a swelled head, and not just from multiple concussions. This is too much publicity and pressure for someone who has yet to really prove himself on the road.

 

[thehog]

No. The point of this thread is that for a kid of 19 years, he gets too much coverage.

Poor guy already seems to have a swelled head, and not just from multiple concussions. This is too much publicity and pressure for someone who has yet to really prove himself on the road.

If he stuck with Vaughters/Garmin he would been well managed and contained. Now with Lance and the steady course of HGH will make that head much enlarged.

 

[thehog]

Taylor P. has awesome genetics. Is the world pursuit championship hard?

I haven't seen the figures but I heard his vo2 max and power readings are through the roof!

Just waiting for the marketing department to hand the readings across to the sports science team so they can add their signature before releasing the data.

Goodnight and thankyou.

thehog.

 

[filipo]

As per Velonews, I thought they gave up serious cycling journalism a few years ago. CN has stuck to it better while moving forward.

I think you forgot the sarcasm smiley...

 

[GilTeamS&M]

Was a huge Davis fan in the day. Hope Taylor does well, but is a bit overexposed.

The American kid with good genes I really am curious to see how well he grows is Peter Stetina. Nice to see him flying under the radar.

As per Velonews, I thought they gave up serious cycling journalism a few years ago. CN has stuck to it better while moving forward.

There you go! Peter Stetina! I whole-heartedly agree with that! I look forward to watching him getting better and better. And, yes, it's nice that he's keeping out of the media hoopla so far.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

No. The point of this thread is that for a kid of 19 years, he gets too much coverage.

Poor guy already seems to have a swelled head, and not just from multiple concussions. This is too much publicity and pressure for someone who has yet to really prove himself on the road.

I wonder if Axel Merckx had received the same type of race results as a teen, would the coverage have been similar?

 

[Mellow Velo]

No. The point of this thread is that for a kid of 19 years, he gets too much coverage.

Which was the point being made, if you read it all again, carefully.

 

[kurtinsc]

No. The point of this thread is that for a kid of 19 years, he gets too much coverage.

Poor guy already seems to have a swelled head, and not just from multiple concussions. This is too much publicity and pressure for someone who has yet to really prove himself on the road.

Really?

The interviews I've read make him sound like an average 18-19 year old kid from the US.

He's getting more coverage then he should... but it's to be expected as he's the first US mens world champion in any cycling discipline aside from BMX since what... Marty Nothstein in 1994?

Doing it as a teenager has made US cycling fans very interested in his progress. I don't blame him for acting like a normal kid his age. THe media's at fault for giving him too much coverage... I don't think he's at fault for it.


And as for joining Trek - Livestrong... ask any young American cyclist who their idol is in cycling. 95% are going to give you the same answer. Phinney's was probably his dad rather then Lance... but I'm betting Lance is pretty high on the list. Hard to fault any US youngster wanting to be a part of that team... the Armstrong name is a lot more popular here then in europe.