[Two days after falling three seconds short of his first elite men's national title in the time trial at the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships, Magnus Sheffield said on his Instagram page, "This one honestly stings. He congratulated his main challenger, Lawson Craddock (Team Bike Exchange-Jayco), for catching the rookie from Ineos Grenadiers early in the race to become the reigning time trial national champion.

Sheffield went full on solo Ineos Grenadiers in Sunday's road race. He was part of an aggressive chase group that caught a dangerous breakaway group on lap 17, the final lap of the 10.7km circuit. Kyle Murphy (Human Powered Health) broke away in the last 4km to take the win, while Sheffield was joined by Craddock, Sean Quinn (EF Education Easypost), Ben King, and Chad Haga (Human Powered Health), current and former He won the bronze medal ahead of World Tour riders.

Two medals in two races is a good achievement. Last year he was a member of Rally Cycling, where he was 6th in the elite time trial and 16th in the road race. This time around, Sheffield had bigger goals in mind.

"I'm happy. I've made great progress and stepped up from last year. Of course, I came here to win. I want to win every race, and anything less than that is disappointing," Sheffield told Cycling News.

"But it's only my second year as a pro, so ultimately I can't blame myself.

Sheffield signed a two-year contract with the WorldTour Great Britain team last fall, and in February he won the Ciclista del Sol stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía, the biggest win of his career at Brabantspaille.

"The Ineos team has really supported me this season. They put together a program that included the Classics. Roubaix, a podium in the Tour de Flanders, a podium in the Tour, and a podium in Amstel. I was really happy to be part of that."

On the track, he set a world junior record in the 3km individual pursuit in Colorado Springs at age 18; won a bronze medal on the road at the 2019 Junior World Championships and two junior national titles in time trial on the road and cyclocross on dirt the following year It was.

In rally cycling, he worked on his time trial position in the wind tunnel. Currently at Ineos, he says he is surrounded by role models. One of his mentors is Filippo Ganna, the favorite to win the opening time trial at the Tour de France in Copenhagen.

"Everyone, to be honest [is a role model]. Filippo Ganna is a big deal. Geraint Thomas, Elia Viviani. Carapas, we did a stage race together. The list goes on and on. And Kwiat (Michal Kwiatkowski) is another great role model, someone I have looked up to since I was young. It feels very strange to now consider him a colleague and a true friend. I feel very fortunate," Sheffield told Cycling News about his new family in Ineos.

"They are people I looked up to when I started cycling and are now close friends that I spend most of my time with. I spend most of my time with Cam Wolfe. He's a veteran

"So it's a really nice environment and I feel very lucky to be part of such a supportive team. I feel very much in tune with the team, the team's mission and values. I couldn't be happier."

Competing in the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships was one of his goals for 2022, but as the only American rider on the team and traveling from Europe, it was an extra effort. His last race was the ZLM Tour in the Netherlands, after which he returned to his training base in Andorra and traveled to the USA for the time trial.

"We didn't have much time, but we were really lucky that the team allowed us to come over here and step away from the European program and race back home in the US.

The first checkpoint was that the Pro Cycling Foundation would provide logistical support, including mechanics and the use of soigneurs. The second advantage for the solo rider was that Ganna, the time trial world champion, was his teammate.

"Filippo is a time trial master. He won the Italian national championships the day before as well," Sheffield said with a smile on his face, referring to his teammate's third title.

"The biggest thing I got out of it is his preparation and how he can execute a plan, especially with the amount of resources the team provides. He's very calm and cool. It's a cliché, but he's calm and cool. He's the epitome of that

"Also, the way he corners on the time trial bike is something I've really taken from him. I try to get as much as I can from that."

He has also told Cycling News in the past that he is good at learning turns and lines. That knowledge and Ganna's teachings created drama in last week's elite men's time trial. On the same course as in 2021, with many technical corners, the entire 34.9 km gave Ganna a 1:47 advantage over George Simpson (Project Echelon Racing). 40:43 was 50.7 seconds faster than the winning time of last year's winner, Craddock. Craddock's winning time of 40:43 was 50.7 seconds faster than last year's winner.

However, Craddock returned to the back of the course and beat his winning time from a year ago by more than a minute, in the process overtaking the 20-year-old by a mere three seconds, to repeat as champion and bring Sheffield the silver medal.

"It's a tough journey to come to America, but the team has supported me to get here. I want to come back next year to take the jersey."

He will return to Europe the day after the U.S. championships end to participate in the Tour of Poland, July 30-August 5, and prepare for a stage race against Ineos.

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