Rally Cycling has signed Magnus Sheffield for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The 18-year-old from Rochester, NY will be the youngest rider on the team’s roster.
Sheffield skyrocketed through the junior ranks and won a bronze medal at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in the junior road race at just 17 years of age.
“I first spoke to Jonas [Carney] in March,” said Sheffield. “The more we talked, the better a fit I thought it would be. Rally Cycling really stood out as a team that was in between the U23 and the WorldTour ranks, and so the race schedule that Jonas and I talked about had a really good balance.”
Sheffield blasted onto the world cycling scene in 2019 when he took control of the rain-soaked Worlds course in Yorkshire, England to set up Team USA for a one-three finish.
“Last year, Magnus showed himself to be one of the strongest juniors in the world at 17 years old. It will be exciting to see how he develops over the next couple years and what he is capable of,” said performance director Jonas Carney.
It’s clear that Sheffield has his sights set on the big time when he mentions a couple of former Rally Cycling riders who have gone on to the WorldTour.
“The team has had Brandon [McNulty] and Sepp Kuss both in the past. I think a lot of people try to compare me, like ‘the next ‘McNulty’ but we’re very different riders.”
With Rally Cycling, Sheffield will still have the opportunity to race with the US national team, but the move means that he can also focus on developing in 2.HC and 2.1 races.
Sheffield has already proven himself at the elite level, setting a new course record during February’s Valley of the Sun stage race in Arizona. He did so on junior gearing.
The young man from New York is looking forward to being based in Europe full-time in 2021, a bold step for a rider who just graduated from high school but one that shows his total commitment to a career on the bike.
Rally Cycling looks forward to welcoming Magnus Sheffield and the previously announced Arvid de Kleijn to its ranks for the 2021 season.
