Taylor Phinney wins third career US National Time Trial Championship title

Taylor Phinney showed he has recaptured some of his old form after recovering from his serious leg injury in 2014, taking a third career victory in the US National Time Trial Championships.

The 25-year-old BMC rider finished 1-10 ahead of Rally Cycling's Tom Zibel on the 51km course in Winston-Salem, logging an unbeatable time of 1-02-45.

His teammate Brent Bookwalter finished in fourth place, 1-36 behind Phinney, while LottoNL-Jumbo's Alexey Vemeulen took third at 1-12.

"It was super difficult and I didn't really have a lot of fun," Phinney said. "But that's how it is with a time trial and I signed myself up for this event, so I knew what I was getting my self into.

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"Honestly I didn't really feel very good. It was a tough mental battle the whole way.

"I'm looking forward to putting the kit on for the first time, hopefully soon. I was just here to show myself ahead of the Olympics and try to have a good ride."

Phinney suffered a potentially career ending injury in a crash during the US National Road Race Championships in 2014, and has only returned to a full program of racing this year. He says the injury to his left leg is still having an effect on him today, but not as badly as before.

"I couldn't walk for almost two hours afterwards," he said. "I still can't ride my bike and get my left leg over the left crank because I was cramping really intensely after the time trial. It's a weird thing to do to yourself that's for sure, but I'm happy that I won, and happy that I'm not in so much pain anymore."