"He doesn’t do anything if he’s not ready to give it 100%": Van Garderen believes Taylor Phinney can complete his Olympic dream

Once hauled the 'future of American cycling', Tejay Van Garderen and Taylor Phinney were the rays of hope the nation decimated by Lance Armstrong's scandal pinned their hopes and dreams to. Ultimately, both men seem to have not quite fulfilled their true potentials for various reasons, but that doesn't mean they haven't had their highs. Of the duo, Phinney's talent might've been even greater, and all the more painful it was when his career nearly ended at the age of 23, before reaching the top of the cycling world. And the American timetrialist finally retired five years later, done with the sport for good... until a month ago when at the age of 35, Phinney declared his ambition for Olympic Games gold in team pursuit at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

"I learned about it the same way everyone else did, and I probably had the same idea that everyone else did," Van Garderen told Domestique. "At first, I thought, 'Is this a joke? Am I getting April fooled or something?'"

"Once I started thinking about it properly, I realised he’ll probably be the best guy on the team if he really takes it seriously, which I know he will," Van Garderen said about the former two-time world champion in individual pursuit.

"He doesn’t do anything if he’s not ready to give it 100%, so I think it's great. I’m rooting for him. I think it’s a hell of a story. And I was always sad about the way he ended his career. I think this could be a bit of redemption for him."

Despite his brutal injuries at the 2014 Nationals which caused him to sit out an entire year, Phinney managed to put himself together for the 2016 Rio Olympics, but by then, he wasn't the same rider anymore. Phinney put his all into the time trial, but the result, a 22nd place, caused something to die inside of the American, Van Garderen noticed:

"Ever since the Brazil Olympics, it seemed like Taylor was a bit over it. He was able to come back from his injury, and he was still racing for BMC, so we were still teammates at the time. I remember one of his first races back, he won a stage of the USA Pro challenge and I thought, 'Oh my God, Taylor just went through this horrendous thing and now it’s just going to be a thing of the past, he’s going to get over it, and he’s going to still be Taylor Phinney.'"

"But it wasn’t as simple as that. There were still follow-up operations, and built-up scar tissue, and lots of chronic pain. He really went full gas for the Brazil Olympics, he trained so hard for it, and it was a disaster. You can’t fault him for it, because it just wasn’t his kind of course. But after that, I think he just lost motivation. He never really went all in for anything anymore. But now I think he’s found something that he’s like, 'Alright, I’m willing to go all in for this.'"

Regarding his former teammates' prospect for the 2028 Games, Van Garderen is optimistic: "He’s obviously kept in good shape, and he rides his bike all the time. He’s probably been riding more mountain bikes or gravel, so whether or not that translates into the explosive nature of the team pursuit, I have no idea. But he’s such a talent that I think if he puts his mind to something, he’ll do it."

"I was teammates with him again the year he ended, and I think the Tour of California in 2019 was basically his last race," Van Garderen said. "It was a bit sad, because he didn’t finish that race. He got dropped and then time cut. That was the last of Taylor, and for such an amazingly talented rider and such a good guy, I would have liked to see it end differently for him. Maybe this is his chance."