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

[auscyclefan94]

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

Their was really little to no internet and less media coverage when he started.

 

[auscyclefan94]

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..

that doesn't men he isn't going to have a great career, just because he won a race.

 

[CentralCaliBike]

Their was really little to no internet and less media coverage when he started.

I suspect that the magazines would have been all over him as a reincarnation of his father if he had similar results because they like a hook to get the attention of readers. In Taylor's case their is the family history, the curiosity of whether genetics will play a role in his development, the fact that he was raised at altitude, someone who has the money and family knowledge to get the best training at a young age, and he comes in as a possibility of being the next great rider from the US.

I figure he would not have anywhere near the attention if his parents were unknown to the cycling world, but that is not his fault. Furthermore, I suspect he would have dropped off the radar if his results would have been mediocre.

 

[Merckx11]

I have been following Professional racing since 1974. I follow the new comers and the old pros. Media has it right to focus on Phinney.
His bona fides are real. He won the u-23 Paris-Roubaix at 18!
He is one of the fastest pursuit riders in history at 18!
He can climb.
Lance Armstrong didn't make this many waves when he was 18 and he was real good.
Barring falling in love with the wrong women or getting into drugs I'm certain you are looking at a future tour contender.

 

[Race Radio]

I have been following Professional racing since 1974. I follow the new comers and the old pros. Media has it right to focus on Phinney.
His bona fides are real. He won the u-23 Paris-Roubaix at 18!
He is one of the fastest pursuit riders in history at 18!
He can climb.
Lance Armstrong didn't make this many waves when he was 18 and he was real good.
Barring falling in love with the wrong women or getting into drugs I'm certain you are looking at a future tour contender.

I am not sure about a Tour contender but certainly a force in the classics. The guy has a huge future and cyclingnews should be covering him.

He may be a little too nice though. Connie and Davis need to beat him more....there are few great champions who had nice childhoods.

 

[Beech Mtn]

I am not sure about a Tour contender but certainly a force in the classics. The guy has a huge future and cyclingnews should be covering him.

He may be a little too nice though. Connie and Davis need to beat him more....there are few great champions who had nice childhoods.

Don't worry - he works for Lance. That could possibly qualify as abuse.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't worry - he works for Lance. That could possibly qualify as abuse.

That's pretty lame. Taylor is already a great rider.

 

[texxan]

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.

His power numbers are not actually through the roof. You were misguided there. Still mega talented.

 

[Angliru]

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

I'm all for more Liz Hatch.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Quite.

But Velonews is much more extreme. The crap they wrote during the Olympics was insane. Apparently, Phinney rode with a serious illness, risking death, but he rode on instead of being treated, because he's from the awesome US of A where people are tough like that.

Or so Velonews wrote at the time

Pathetic, really.

Anyway, cyclingnews is this way with all anglophones. Which makes sense, since it's an english language site so the readers will mostly be anglophones...but still, cyclingnews takes it too far.

Y

Constantly overrating anglophones in race previews and rarely/ever featuring/interviewing non-anglophones that aren't either huge stars or from anglophone teams.

Yep, glad BiciSport doesn't fawn and go on about Italian riders and teams.......wait......THEY DO talk alot about Italian stuff...Just like Velo whines about french riders and Le Tour about Germans.........ETC

 

[Mainerider]

I know I'm going off topic here, but has anyone wondered how Taylor's parents have reconciled their roles as ex-professional cyclists advising a very talented young cyclist and as parents with probably a very intimate knowledege of the sports' drug culture. I suppose those two bodies of knowledge could be combined to give Taylor the best possible insight and advice, but sometimes I wonder if they wished he played soccer or basketball. I also wonder how comfortable they are with his relationship with LA.

 

[kurtinsc]

Davis Phinney's career ended around 1992 or 1993. That's right around the time when the doping culture in cycling was starting to really accelerate. Lemond always pointed to 1992 as the year it really took off (though I don't know if he just picked that year because that's when his results fell off).

It's possible that they really weren't all that tied into the drug culture... some people from that era may actually have been ignorant of it.

 

[Sum_of_Marc]

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

Nope, he didnt break a world record in winning the Pursuit (His PB remains slower than Boardman, Thomas and Wiggins)