Magnus Sheffield storms to time trial victory on stage 2 of Tour of Denmark

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Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) claimed the third victory of a remarkable first WorldTour season, winning the individual time trial on stage 2 of the Tour of Denmark. 

The 20-year-old US rider flew around the undulating 12.2km course in Essens, beating Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) and Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) to the top spot on the podium. 

Sheffield clocked a time of 13:35 with an average speed of nearly 54km/h, beating Skjelmose's time by three seconds and Laporte by six seconds. 

The trio were all late starters, swarming the podium after Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) appeared to have set the key benchmark, ultimately 15 seconds down on his teammate's winning time. 

Sheffield now moves into the blue jersey of overall leader, with stage 1 winner Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) setting off last and finishing nearly two minutes down.

With the opening stage culminating in a bunched finish, the time gaps from the time trial effectively equate to the new overall gaps, with Sheffield leading by three seconds over Skjelmose and six seconds over Laporte.

Thomas gives Ineos two riders in the top five and two options as the race heads for gravel roads on stage 3 and a punchy finale on Saturday's stage 5.

The victory is Sheffield's third of his first season at WorldTour level after leaving Rally Cycling mid-way through 2021 and joining Ineos from 2022. He attacked to win a stage of the Ruta del Sol before pulling off a solo victory at Brabantse Pijl, as Ineos used their numbers to dominate the Belgian Classic.

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