Nebraska Cycling News

Defending World Champion Claims Second Medal of the Week, Finishes Eight Seconds Back

Cape Town, South Africa —Two-time junior world champion Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo.) contested his final event Friday at the 2008 UCI Junior Road & Track World Championships, winning a bronze medal in the individual time trial. Finishing just eight seconds off the gold medal pace set by Michal Kwiatkowski (POL), Phinney’s third-place finish marked his second trip to the podium this week after winning a gold medal in the 3,000-meter individual pursuit on the track last Saturday.

Entering the race as the defending world champion, Phinney recorded a time of 36 minutes, 29.15 seconds over the 26.8-kilometer course.  Kwiatkowski turned in a 36:21.21 to claim the rainbow jersey and silver medalist Jakob Steigmiller (GER) finished five seconds back at 36:26.54.

Team USA’s Nathan Brown (Covington, Tenn.) placed 12th, 1:13 off the pace, while compatriot Adam Leibovitz (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished 40th out of 66 riders despite losing more than two minutes at the start because of a mechanical issue.

Phinney next turns his attention to next month’s Olympic Games where he’ll compete in the 4,000-meter individual pursuit on Aug. 15.

In the women’s time trial, Americans Jerika Hutchinson (Mount Shasta, Calif.) and Sinead Miller (Pittsburgh, Pa.) placed 12th and 20th respectively. Maria Grandt Petersen (DEN) clocked the fastest time to win the gold medal with a mark of 21:03.11 over a distance of 14.1 kilometers. By comparison, Hutchinson finished 1:15.16 off the winner’s pace and Miller was 1:51.45 back.

The 2008 UCI Junior Road & Track World Championships conclude on Sunday with the men’s and women’s road race events. Starting for the U.S. National Team in the men’s race will be Brown, Leibovitz and Jacob Rathe (Portland, Ore.), while Hutchinson and Miller will contest the women’s race.