Less than 24 hours after his stunning time trial performance at the Volta ao Algarve saw him finish second behind Remco Evenepoel, a stroke of bad luck left Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) fighting a puncture and out of the GC battle.
Eighth overall before the hilly final stage 5, with some 30 kilometres to go, Sheffield's white jersey of Best Young Rider leader suddenly loomed into the TV camera footage as the American battled a front wheel puncture.
Teammates like Geraint Thomas leapt to his assistance, lending Sheffield his bike so he could keep in contention as best as possible and limit the gap.
Quickly back on a replacement bike of his own, despite a lengthy, all-out pursuit of the main pack, the American was not able to close the gap. But as he said later, he owed it to his teammates to give it his all and go down fighting to the last.
"Unfortunately, I just punctured the front wheel at a really bad moment in the race," Sheffield told a small group of reporters including Cyclingnews.
"Not that there's ever a good moment but it certainly wasn't the best, it was right before we came into the final climb for the first time."
"Luckily G [Geraint Thomas] was able to give me his bike, so I rode that for a bit, and then I could switch back onto my bike and chase. But unfortunately, the officials made a barrage and then unfortunately I'm just not strong enough to close that big of a gap when I got a flat tyre."
Sheffield said that up until that point the racing had been intense, particularly when Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) launched a ferocious counter-attack and attempted to bridge across.
"I think Wout made an acceleration on a cobbled section with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) through this small village, so it was really strung out there. But we were able to bring it back under control and then QuickStep tried to chase as well."
However, Sheffield's puncture then left him on the back foot and meant he had to fight hard to try and get back in contention.
"Unfortunately, that's part of racing. I think I owe it to my teammates and team, you can't just give up like that. It's not over til it's over."
Riding the Volta ao Algarve for the first time, he recognised that globally things had gone well for him, with the second place in the stage 4 time trial the undoubted highlight, but strong performances all around.
"Yeah, I can be happy with my preparation, I still miss a bit, especially on the second climb [ascent of the Malhão]. So I have some lessons [to learn] from this race, but I'm just excited for the rest of the season."
Currently with the Olympic Games time trial as his biggest goal of 2024, Sheffield now heads to Strade Bianche, followed by debut participations in Tirreno-Adriatico and the Giro d'Italia.
