Pro bike: Phinney’s bici rosa for Wednesday’s team time trial

VERONA, Italy (VN) — Confidence is everything, and Taylor Phinney has it in spades. The young Team BMC rider made the decision to target the opening prologue at the Giro d’Italia last fall, and had the confidence to request pink road and time trial bikes from BMC technical coordinator Stefano Cattai in early December.

“He asked me, and was sure he could do it,” Cattai said before the start of Wednesday’s team time trial, where Phinney faced stiff competition and an injured ankle in his attempt to hold onto the pink jersey he won last week.

Cattai had a pink Team Machine SLR01 road bike painted early this year, as well as a pink-themed Time Machine TM01 time trial frame. The team believed that Phinney could get the jersey on stage 1 and hold it through Denmark and into Italy.

“I told him, ‘OK, I will built them, but you have to keep the jersey to Verona then! That’s the deal.’ He said that would not be a problem,” said a laughing Cattai.

They did manage to make it to Verona, but no farther, after losing the jersey there in the team time trial.

The bike
The TM01 hasn’t changed since its introduction in the Criterium du Dauphine last year, and is the same frame used by Cadel Evans to take yellow in the final time trial of last year’s Tour de France.

Phinney’s is a bit bigger than Evans’, of course, and his component choices are a bit different as well. Unlike Evans, the young American uses a mechanical Shimano Dura-Ace group, rather than Di2. His aerobar setup is also different – wider, and higher relative to Evans.

Phinney’s saddle height is 82.3cm, and reach from his ISM saddle to base bar is 60cm. He uses the full allowable extension length, 80cm with a morphological exemption. That may be why he has gone with mechanical Dura-Ace: the mechanical shifters allow a bit more effective length on the extensions, since they are measured to the center of the hinge rather than the tips.

Phinney picked an 11-23 cassette, and interestingly is running standard 53/39 chainrings on his 175mm crank arms – perhaps so he can stay in the big ring for the courses’ one climb. Like the rest of the team, he is using Easton’s EC90 TT front wheel and an Easton-branded Lightweight disc. He also uses Easton Attack integrated carbon base bar and extensions, and an Elite aero water bottle and cage.