Magnus Sheffield sprinted to seventh place at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race following a front-foot performance from the INEOS Grenadiers.
The American found himself in a group of 11 riders in the final kilometres, chasing down lone escapee Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla). The Swiss champion would stay clear at the line, while Sheffield would pick up a strong top 10 in the first WorldTour one-day race of the season.
In sweltering conditions in Victoria, the INEOS Grenadiers helped lay the foundations for a good result with an attacking approach to the final laps. Both Ben and Connor Swift showed intent to make the race hard, with Connor eventually going clear in a group of four riders. The Brit led over the Challambra Crescent KOM with 50km to go alongside Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla), Max Walker (EF Education – EasyPost) and Rudy Porter (Australia).
With Connor reeled in with 19km to go, Sheffield moved to the fore. On the final lap he got great support from Michal Kwiatkowski and Lucas Hamilton, with the latter setting the tempo on the final climb, hauling in Harper with 9.5km remaining.
In the end there was no catching Schmid, who made his slender late advantage pay to win by just three seconds into Geelong.