Taylor Phinney of the BMC Racing Team held onto the overall lead Sunday at the Giro d’Italia but not before some nervous moments after he crashed in the final 10 kilometers.
Phinney suffered only minor scrapes to his right side in the the crash with 8.3 kilometers left in the 206 km race. “I just found myself on the ground, having touched wheels and lost balance,” he said. “Then I couldn’t get my chain back on. So I kind of made a second prologue effort. I was quite scared there for a second that I was going to lose the jersey.” With the help of teammates Danilo Wyss and Alessandro Ballan, the former U.S. national time trial champion mounted a furious chase to regain the peloton, which was more than half a minute ahead. He regained contact with the back of the field with 4.6 km to go. “I had a lot of adrenaline going,” he said. “You can’t really give a sigh of relief once you get to the back of the pack because there could be splits in it. Then there was that crash with 500 meters to go.”
Phinney was not involved in a crash on the final turn and neither was BMC Thor Hushovd, who made a bid for the stage win. World road champion Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) got the victory as Hushovd finished seventh. Assistant Director Max Sciandri said the BMC Racing Team performed well in defense of Phinney, the youngest rider (21 years old) to lead the Giro since the late Laurent Fignon in 1982. “The team did a great job and seventh place for Thor is a confidence boost for him after a bit of bad luck so far this year,” Sciandri said. “Taylor’s in pink, so we’re happy.”
