There is still no set date for Taylor Phinney to return to racing for his BMC team, but the squad are hopeful the American will be back before the end of 2015. He has been training on the bike for a few hours each day in the mountains in Boulder, Colorado.

“We’re not putting a date or a number on [a comeback], but he continues to make progress,” BMC general manager Jim Ochowicz told VeloNews. “According to the trainers, he’s able to put out more watts, more hours on the bike. He’s on the road, not on the turbo-trainer. We’re hopeful if he continues the way he’s going, we’ll see him racing before the end of summer.”

He wont be riding the Tour of California or his National Championships, where he enjoyed great success last year, but if he can get back and ride well, he may make the US team for their home Worlds.

“No, we’d love to have him there, but it’s not going to happen,” Ochowicz said of California. “Worlds? Well, we don’t select the worlds team, but if he’s riding well, we have the world team time trial, so we’d love to have him to help defend our title. He’s going to have to race; he just can’t show up at the worlds. He would have to be in Canada, and do something before that, maybe Colorado or the Tour of Poland.”

Man wondered if Phinney would be able to return to the peloton and race at a high level and if not, would the 24 year old consider retirement. Ochowicz says that once Phinney has returned to racing, if he feels he can’t ride at the highest level and wants to retire, the team wouldn’t stop him.

“Nobody’s made that [possible retirement] official. Those are just rumors. In the end, it will be up to him, and how does he feel about his progress. About his ability to be able to race at this level,” Ochowicz said, just moments after Paris-Roubaix finished.

Roubaix and Flanders are races where Phinney has the ability to do well and once he returns, the team wants him to focus on having a good winter and then targeting the Classics if he is up to WorldTour pace.

“This is his race [Roubaix], this is where he belongs,” Ochowicz continued. “I’d like to have him come back to race some time before the end of the year, so he can do a strong winter program, and then he can start thinking about Flanders and Roubaix [in 2016]. It’s important that he races before the end of the year for that purpose.”