Youngster says race a perfect tuneup for Beijing; AP

Taylor Phinney won a gold medal on Saturday. Another might be coming his way soon.

Phinney, the phenom from Boulder, became a two-time junior world champion on Saturday, winning the 3,000-meter individual pursuit at Cape Town, South Africa. He won the junior men’s road time trial last year before turning his attention to the track, and he’ll be the U.S. men’s best hope for a medal at the Olympic velodrome next month.

Winning another junior world title, he said Saturday, was a perfect tuneup for the Beijing Games.

“It’s a big relief for me,” Phinney told The Associated Press in a telephone interview shortly after the race. “Any world championship title is really meaningful, so I’m relieved and really happy. It’s cool to be a two-time world champion, that’s for sure.”

Phinney will race the 4,000-meter individual pursuit in Beijing. First, though, comes a chance for more junior world gold: He’ll ride the omnium and points race next week in South Africa before the program turns to road events.

Phinney inherited an Olympic legacy from his parents: His father, Davis Phinney, was an Olympic bronze medal winner and a stage winner at the Tour de France, and his mother, Connie Carpenter-Phinney, won a gold medal at the Olympics in 1984.

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