Magnus Sheffield has finished in second place the time-trial at the Tour de Pologne, a crucial day for the overall classification, however for the American the stage win was the sole goal, which he almost obtained.
"It felt pretty good today, I didn't have too many expectations especially after four days of hard racing," Sheffield told Cyclingnews in a post-race interview. "This kind of time trial is pretty new terrain for me, I grew up racing time trials on highways, out and back. But I also enjoy the short, punchy prologues as well".
Although playing down his expectations, Sheffield was objectively one of the favourites for the day, having shown tremendous rolling skills over his current season with INEOS, and having a perfectly suited route. He wasn't, unlike the majority of the other riders who finished high on the day, in the battle for the overall classification, but that didn't stop him from giving it his all.
"Today was not technical at all, more a fine balance of measuring your effort as well as possible, because it was pretty rolling in the beginning but you could really pay for it in the end". He paced the stage perfectly, taking the early lead, and loosing it to only one rider in the end as Thymen Arensman blew past the route to take a formidable stage win.
"After the first half of the season I flew back to do the Nationals, it was disappointing to lose the time trial by just a few seconds to Lawson... But then I came back here and did an altitude camp with the rest of the team in Andorra," he explained, detailing his exact run-up to Pologne, in which his teammate Ethan Hayter has taken over the lead and is set to win the race today in Krakow.
"Then it was straight to Poland before I go onto the Tour of Denmark and then possibly the Worlds before the end of the year," he revealed, with a firm and planted set of goals ahead.
Your new leader at #TdP22 is @ethan_hayter! 👏 The Brit set the third fastest time in the TT and he'll take an 11-second lead into the final day. @MagnusSheffield was a brilliant second on the stage. A big ride too from @bentulett01 who is now fifth overall.
