A nervous Taylor Phinney reached his big goal when he took a dominant win at the American time trial championships. He beat defending champion Tom Zirbel by 51 seconds while David Williams completed the podium.

BMC Racing Team's Taylor Phinney won his second national time trial title in dominant fashion Saturday at the USA Cycling professional road championships. Phinney's 51-second margin of victory over runner-up Tom Zirbel (Team Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) was the largest in the event since 2009. Phinney went 1:24 faster than third-placed David Williams (5-Hour Energy presented by Kenda) while adding to the national time trial title he won in 2010.

"I was surprisingly nervous today," Phinney said. "I sort of felt like all I could do was lose. So I was really happy when I was out there and feeling good and feeling fast and getting positive time splits."

Phinney's win was his fourth of the season. In February, he won the Stage 1 individual time trial of the Dubai Tour on the way to winning the overall. Last week, he soloed the final 25 kilometers to win Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California.

"It is always a huge honor to come here and be able to win," Phinney said. "I won four years ago, so to come back after missing nationals two years in a row is a special feeling."

His victory was the BMC Racing Team's 14th of the season.

Phinney led Zirbel by 13 seconds at the halfway point of the 30.9-kilometer race on two laps of an out-and-back course. That margin kept growing as BMC Racing Team Sport Director Max Sciandri relayed time splits.

"Taylor took a little bit of a beating from (Bradley) Wiggins in the time trial in California," Sciandri said. "But it pushed him a little bit harder in training. He went straight home after the race, came out here a day early and then it was like a piece of a puzzle that falls into place. The pressure is off now that he has won it. We will let it sink in tonight and then tomorrow we start thinking about the road race."

Phinney will be joined by teammate Peter Stetina for Monday's 165.5-km national championship road race that includes four ascents of Lookout Mountain.

"I am relaxed now, this is a big weight off my shoulders," Phinney said. "Now I can go into Monday a little bit more relaxed and kind of take it easier, put the pressure on the other teams and just kind of follow wheels."