Magnus Sheffield on first pro win: "This win makes all the hard work and sacrifices I’ve made the past couple years all worth it"

For a long time already Magnus Sheffield has been hinted as one of the biggest rising talents in the peloton. However, at only 19 years of age, to be racing at this level and taking a win is incredibly impressive from the American. He was shocked with his first professional win today at the Vuelta a Andalucia, and it is the first of many surely.

"It feels unbelievable to be able to get my first professional win this early in the season. The team plan before the stage was to try put me in the best position in the final KM’s and to try see how I could sprint. However, the race blew apart on the last climb but we had five guys in the front group which played out perfectly," Sheffield said after the stage. During a flurry of attacks in the final, non-categorized climb, the peloton split to pieces with a group of around twenty five riders steering clear and holding off the peloton. INEOS was heavily represented, and although a crash took several of the team's riders down with less than three kilometers to go, they still managed to take the win as Sheffield powered away in the final minutes of racing.

"I haven’t won a bike race since my first year as a junior and I haven’t had many opportunities to show the progression I’ve made the past couple years. It all happened so fast but I knew I couldn’t let up the last hundred metres. This win makes all the hard work and sacrifices I’ve made the past couple years all worth it and I feel like I can use this as confidence going into the classics."

Although it is not expected to see Sheffield in the fight for the GC, he is less than a minute behind leader Alessandro Covi. The team is looking very sharp and Carlos Rodríguez is their main man for the coming days as the overall classification fight will unravel.