'It feels good to be back' - Taylor Phinney leads USA men's team pursuit in Shanghai World Championships

Taylor Phinney made a solid debut on his return to track racing with USA men's team pursuit squad, helping the quartet qualify seventh for the first round and then going close against a resurgent France in the first round.

In other racing on day one in Shanghai, Lorena Weibes (Netherlands) won the women's scratch world title, using her renowned sprint in the final surge to the finish. The Netherlands also struck gold with the men's Team Sprint, with Jeffrey Hoogland, Harrie Lavreysen and Roy Van Den Berg, while China won the women's Team Sprint ahead of Great Britain and Germany.

Filippo Ganna helped Italy reach the final of the men's team pursuit, defeating Great Britain in the first round. Italy will face fastest qualifier Denmark in Thursday's final, while Great Britain will race France for bronze.

The 2026 World Championships in Shanghai mark the start of the qualification process for Los Angeles and Phinney's journey to a return to the Olympics.  Eight team pursuit squads qualify for the Olympic Games and also help qualify for individual events like the Omnium and Madison.  

Phinney rode with new Under 23 road race world champion Ashlin Barry, Grant Koontz and Anders Johnson in Shanghai. They set the seventh fastest time of 3:51.029, faster than France in qualifying. However France then changed its line-up for the first round and set a time of 3:49.619, beating the USA who set 3:50.916.

Phinney used his power to lead off the USA quarter, riding on the front to get up to speed for more than a kilometre. The USA was only 0.100 of a second slower than France but then gradually lost ground. Phinney dropped off at half-distance, while France stayed with four riders for longer and finished faster.

He is set to also ride the individual Pursuit on Friday, where he will go up against Ganna, Jonathan Milan and other riders still competing on the road and track at the highest level. The Individual pursuit will be an indication of Phinney's true track speed and ability over four kilometres.   

Now 36, Phinney was inspired to return to the track after a 16-absence by a chance to ride for the USA at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. His mother Connie Carpenter-Phinney won the gold in the first ever women's road race at the 1984 LA Olympics in 1984 and his father Davis Phinney won bronze in the team time trial as part of his successful professional career.

"The old horse still has some kick," Phinney joked on Instagram when he confirmed his return to racing. He retired from professional cycling in 2019 after winning 13 races including the open stage of the 2012 Giro d'Italia in Denmark.

"It's my first race back, it feels good to be back, it feels like coming home in lots of ways," Phinney told the UCI social media channels in Shanghai.

"I only started one year ago, I was retired for quite a long time and I never thought that I'd race again. Then this idea came to my attention of riding the Team Pursuit and maybe trying to qualify for the LA Olympics. 

He was encouraged and inspired by his wife and pro rider Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney.

"Being around Kasia and seeing how she approaches her training and how dedicated she is helped me. She is a great resource for me to have and I asked her a lot of questions," Phinney said.

"The technology has changed quite a lot, especially in the pursuit. If you look at my position in the individual pursuit from 2009, I was completely open (with my arms) and now everything is closed. The position is more extreme but the power numbers are not that different. I race as the starter, so I take a lot of the first minute of the race, getting everyone up to speed."

We have a really strong team. We're trying to understand where the other teams are at. If we finish top five, we'd be really happy. If we go into finals, we'd be more than stoked, but we'll take one round at a time."