Paris (AFP)
American Taylor Phinney, former world champion track cycling, decided to end his career at the age of 29 on the night of the Japan Cup Sunday, announced Wednesday his team Education First.
Very promising in his debut, the son of two Olympic medalists, Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter, had his trajectory broken by a serious fall in June 2014.
"My body sort of made that choice for me," said Phinney, quoted Wednesday by his team. "It's a good time to trade my chips and get out of the casino. (...) At some point, we do not want to just race to finish it, it's time to take this energy and turn into something new, unknown. "
Twice world champion individual pursuit to less than 20 years (2009 and 2010), the American began with fanfare on the road. But his victory in the opening time trial of the Giro, in 2012, wearing the pink jersey for three days when he was not yet 22, and his silver in the counter the World Watch the same year, were not followed by results of the same level.
Lover of Paris-Roubaix, which he won twice the Espoirs version, Phinney ran for BMC from 2011 to 2016 before joining the team of Jonathan Vaughters (Cannondale, Education First).
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