Sheffield emulates Ganna as ‘master of the art of time trialing’

“I have to admit it stings,” Magnus Sheffield said on his Instagram feed two days after missing his first elite men’s national title by three seconds in the time trial at the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships. He praised his main competitor, Lawson Craddock (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), who erased an early deficit against rookie Ineos Grenadiers and repeated as national time trial champion.

Sheffield then reloaded their solo Ineos Grenadiers arsenal for a full attack in the road race on Sunday. He was part of an aggressive group of chasers who took a dangerous breakaway on the 17th and final lap of a 10.7km circuit. As Kyle Murphy (Human Powered Health) slipped away in the final four kilometers for the win, Sheffield edged current and former WorldTour riders such as Craddock, Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Ben King and Chad Haga (Human Powered Health), to claim bronze.

Two races and two medals, that’s a good shot. Last year he rode for Rally Cycling, sixth in the elite time trial and 16th in the road race. This time around, Sheffield had bigger goals.

“I’m happy. I’ve made a big improvement and a step up from last year. Obviously, I came here to win. Every race I line up for, I want to win, and when it’s less than that, it’s disappointing,” Sheffield said. Cycling news.

“But I can’t blame myself in the end because it’s only my second professional year and so I’m very happy to finish on the podium and I hope to do more in the future.”

Sheffield signed a two-year contract with the British WorldTour team last autumn. He wasted no time getting acclimatized, winning a stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia ruta Ciclista del Sol in February and then claiming his biggest career victory to date at Brabantse Pijl.

“I’ve been lucky, the Ineos team has supported me really well so far this season. I’ve had a program that included the Classics. he team that won quite a few, Roubaix, a podium in the Tour of Flanders, a podium in Tours, Amstel, I was really happy to have been part of it.

On the track at the age of 18, Sheffield set a junior world record in the 3km individual pursuit in Colorado Springs. He picked up a bronze medal at the 2019 world junior road championships, a year after winning two national junior titles, one on the road in the time trial and on the gravel in the cyclo-cross.

At the Rallye Cyclisme, he worked on his time trial position in the wind tunnel. Now at Ineos, he says he is surrounded by models. One of his mentors is the favorite to win the opening time trial in Copenhagen of the Tour de France, Filippo Ganna.

“All the guys, honestly [have been role models]. Filippo Ganna is great. Geraint Thomas, Elia Viviani. And Carapaz with whom I did a stage race. The list just goes on. And Kwiato [Michal Kwiatkowski] is also a great role model and someone I have looked up to since I was young. It’s quite strange to consider him now as my colleague, and also as a true friend. I feel very lucky,” Sheffield said Cycling news about his new family at Ineos.

“These are the guys I looked up to when I got into cycling, and now they’re my close friends who I spend most of my time with. I spend most of my time with Cam Wurf. That’s a veteran.

“So we have a very good environment and I feel extremely lucky to be part of such a supportive team. I feel like I fit in well with the team, the mission and the values ​​of the team. I couldn’t be happier.

Competing in the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships was one of his goals for 2022, but as the team’s only American rider and coming from Europe, it was an extra effort. The last race he did was the ZLM Tour in the Netherlands, then he traveled to his training base in Andorra and traveled to the United States for the time trial.

“I didn’t have too much time, but I was really lucky that the team allowed me to come here and get away from the European program to come back home to the United States.”

Ganna’s Gleening

The first box to tick was asking the Pro Cycling Foundation to provide logistical assistance, including the use of a mechanic and trainer. The second advantage for a solo rider was having world time trial champion Ganna as a teammate.

“Filippo, he’s a master of the art of the time trial. He also won the Italian national championship the day before,” Sheffield said with an easy smile, noting his teammates won a third title. .

“The most important thing I took away was his preparation and his ability to execute a plan, especially with the amount of resources the team has to offer us. He’s extremely calm and cool. It’s a cliché , but he’s calm, cool and collected.

“Also, the way he is able to corner on the time trial bike is something that I could really relate to. I try to get as much out of it as possible.

He had also said Cycling news in the past that he is good at remembering turns and lines. That knowledge and Ganna’s lessons helped him create drama in the elite men’s time trial last week as he burned through the full 34.9km course, the same course as in 2021 with many technical corners, with a full advantage of 1:47 over George Simpson (Project Echelon Courses). His time of 40:43 was 50.7 seconds faster than last year’s winner Craddock’s winning time.

However, Craddock was back as the last man on the course and cut his winning time from a year ago by over a minute, and in the process eclipsed the 20-year-old by just three seconds. to repeat as champions, leaving Sheffield with a silver medal.

“It’s a great trip to come here to the United States, but I’m really lucky that my team helped me to come here. Yeah, I really hope to come back next year to try to take the jersey.

He returned to Europe the day after the end of the American championships to prepare for stage races with Ineos, hoping to be part of the Tour of Poland, from July 30 to August 5. He also hopes to make the American selection for the world championships in Australia.

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