It's been almost a year since Taylor Phinney has not run a professional race. The BMC Racing Team rider had fallen heavily during the US national road championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He had to be present at the Dubaï Tour, but those plans were later shifted with a potential return for the Tour of California.

Cyclingnews met Jim Ochowicz during the Tour de Yorkshire. He explained that his rider is very patient. “He had a severe injury to his leg and he’s still in rehab. He needs to be able to do so many Watts with that leg and so many kilometres in training per week. We’re monitoring that progress and he’s moving in the right direction, that’s definitive. He had a second surgery in January in order to remove some of the swelling from the first surgery. That appears to have been successful,” Ochowicz told Cyclingnews during the Tour de Yorkshire. “He’s not yet ready to race and I can’t tell you yet when he’ll be able to start racing again. We’re monitoring it again week by week.”

Ochowicz hopes that Phinney will be able to run this season. But he told that it will be difficult to know if the American rider will be able to find his best level.  “I hope he’ll race again this season because I think it would be important for him to get some races in just for confidence. That would be good for him and I’d love to see that happen so that he can have some confidence going into the winter and then come back in the spring for Paris-Roubaix. (...) I don’t know. He doesn’t know. The medical staff don’t know. We just need to make sure that we take steps forward and that he doesn’t slip backwards. Patience is virtue that we have and we’ll wait as long as we have to.”