Ineos Grenadiers signs record-breaking teenage star for 2022 season
The 19-year-old holds the junior 3km individual pursuit world record


Ineos Grenadiers have announced their latest signing for the 2022 season and it is yet another young talent, this time a record-breaking American.
Magnus Sheffield is a 19-year-old who holds the junior world record for the 3km individual pursuit on the track, a record he set in November of last year.
The rider from Pittsford, New York state, also took bronze at the 2019 World Championships junior road race in Yorkshire behind fellow countryman, Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo).
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Sheffield said: "I grew up watching Team Sky on the front of races, I can even remember Brad [Wiggins] winning the Tour, that was probably my first recollection of the team.
“It’s always been a team that I’ve looked up to, and out of all the professional teams it was the one that I grew up wanting to be a part of.
"The next couple years I’m looking forward to gaining as much experience as possible and really just trying to find the style of racing I like the most. Then also being able to help my teammates succeed."
Sheffield is signing from American second division team Rally Cycling where the young American has put in multiple solid rides including four top-30s and a sixth place at the US National Time Trial Championships.
"I kind of see myself as an all-rounder," continued Sheffield. "I would say that the one day races are the ones I like the most, especially with the cobbles, but the first couple of years on the team I just want to see which type of terrain suits me."
He was also in a solo breakaway for much of the Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia in horrendous condition before finishing 36th on the day.
Ineos Grenadiers' director of racing, Rod Ellingworth said: "Magnus has shown that he’s a gutsy racer, and one that when faced with challenges has the aptitude to create solutions to overcome what life throws at him.
"The way he sets himself goals and works towards them is a quality that fits with the INEOS Grenadiers’ ethos. Developing up and coming talent is now a real focus for this team, and it will be interesting to see how he grows over the coming seasons."
Sheffield set his individual pursuit record at the Eleven Velodrome which is part of the US Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs with a time of 3:06.447, putting over three seconds into the previous record.
He decided to look at the track and this particular record after much of his 2020 races were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic with him adding: "It was a really hard time because all the races were cancelled, it was really heart-breaking, especially to miss out on a whole year of racing as a junior.
"The pursuit was something that I knew that I could do by myself, along with support from the USA coaching team, of course. But what was key, is I didn’t need any other competitors, and it was something that I could be quite flexible with timing wise."
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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