The 2009 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships continued at the Home Depot Center velodrome on Friday with both Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./Trek-Livestrong) and Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif./American Track Foundation) catching their opponents in their respective men’s and women’s individual pursuit final to add to their collection of national titles.

Phinney clocked a time of 4 minutes, 30.855 seconds in the qualifying round of the 4,000-meter individual pursuit before catching Roman Kilun (Berkeley, Calif./OUCH p/b Maxxis) in the gold medal final to win his third consecutive elite title in that event. The 2008 Olympian was able to catch Harm in 7.5-laps of what was to be a 16-lap lap affair.

“This event is so tough,” explained Phinney. “It’s a rewarding event, but you really have to work at it. It’s exciting to see so many young guys like Julian doing well.”

Men’s Pursuit

1. *Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./Trek-Livestrong)

2. Roman Kilun (Berkeley, Calif./OUCH p/b Maxxis)

3. Daniel Harm (Seattle, Wash./Broadmark Capital City)

4. Julian Kyer (Boulder, Colo./Trek-Livestrong)

*U23 national champion

Posted in: Cycling, Press, Taylor Phinney |