Ineos Grenadiers signs record-breaking teenage star for 2022 season

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."