Victory for a top specialist like Remco Evenepoel in the Volta ao Algarve time trial on Saturday may have been widely predicted, but it could not overshadow an almost equally spectacular TT performance for runner-up Magnus Sheffield.
While the American fell just 16 seconds short of delivering what would have been a colossal upset and beating the Belgian, Sheffield nonetheless finished ahead of much more established stars of the calibre of 2022 Algarve time trial winner Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Ineos teammate Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost)
If Sheffield could not add a second TT victory to his palmares after one he took in the Tour of Denmark a couple of years back, second at the Algarve nonetheless both augurs well for his season and, at 21, even beyond that.
"I'm definitely disappointed but it's a good kind of disappointment, just need to put in the work and keep going for next time," Sheffield told a small group of reporters afterwards.
"It's a big year with the Olympics coming up, so every one of these time trials counts."
Speaking later to Cyclingnews, Sheffield said that his strategy on the rolling 22-kilometre course had been to make a fast start on an early uphill and then try and hold on as long as possible.
"I came out of the start quite quickly, there was quite a hard uphill drag right out of the gate, and it was really just about staying as low and aero as possible in these fast sections," he said.
"There were quite a few technical corners and roundabouts, some quite dirty corners, and I just tried to take care in those and maximize every bit of the course I could."
"I wanted to find seconds on every corner, and hopefully I could come out quickest."
Rather than use reference points from other teammates, Sheffield said that throughout the course he had been "going off my own feelings. I did a few laps this morning, and I also reconned the course the Tuesday before the race."
"I don't really like knowing how I compare to others because it's not that useful ultimately, I just want to know what's coming ahead of me and what I need to focus on."
Sitting in the hot seat with the race speaker repeatedly announcing he had the fastest time was surely a pleasurable feeling, but when a Soudal-QuickStep soigneur arrived and began setting things up for Evenepoel to warm down in another corner of the tents next to the winner's podium, even before the Belgian had completed the course, there was something of a feeling of inevitability about Sheffield ending the day in second at best.
But despite Evenepoel coming home 16 seconds ahead, Sheffield remained second overall on the stage, and his eighth place on GC means he is now heading the Best Young Riders ranking as well.
Sheffield said later that it was hard to have reference points before a race itself in terms of how well his winter training could compare - "you never really know", he succinctly put it - he did have the sensation that the Ineos off-season training camp in Denia, Spain had been very productive.
"I did some good work on the TT bike there, we had some Classics guys, some guys who are here, others I won't see til the next offseason, but I felt the time we spent in Denia was really good, and hopefully I can continue putting together some good time trials," he reasoned.
"It's nice to get a result early in the season, so you feel like you are getting something out of hard work, but sometimes have to remember it's not like that and you have to continue to push with that hard work so that eventually it can come around."
In terms of what is to come in a key year for Sheffield, the World Championships is a big goal, he said, even if the Olympics, for which he still has to qualify, are an even bigger one, given "they only take place every four years and Los Angeles will be the next one". Not only that, Sheffield will also debut at his first Grand Tour in the Giro d'Italia in 2024 and take part in Tirreno-Adriatico as well.
The second place at the Volta ao Algarve may soon fade in the rear mirror given he's got such major targets coming up, then. But as a reference point, second behind the reigning World Time Trial Champion will nonetheless surely remain a very promising step in the right direction.
