Neilson Powless (EF Training-EasyPost) has one aim this yr, and it is to win a Basic. The 27-year-old is placing virtually unique emphasis on this ambition after coming tantalisingly near a podium within the Tour of Flanders final season.
Powless completed simply behind Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) in fifth place final yr in Oudenaarde after Tadej Pogačar (UAE Group Emirates) soloed to victory after escaping from Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Van Aert.
It was considered one of a number of indicators of his potential after a 3rd in Dwars door Vlaanderen and seventh in Milan-San Remo.
Talking to Wielerflits, Powless laid out his ambitions that might put him in direct competitors with high contenders Van Aert and Van der Poel.
“It is all the time enjoyable racing towards them,” Powless stated. “They’re actually aggressive, actually robust. I really feel like within the final couple of years have began to shut the hole to them slightly bit. You already know they’re nonetheless going to be the favourites in each race that they present as much as however I am getting extra assured at each race I do.”
Final yr on the World Championships in Glasgow, Powless completed eleventh behind winner Van der Poel however was virtually on the wheel of the successful breakaway when it went clear – a heartbreaking however encouraging end result.
Powless additionally confirmed potential to grow to be a Grand Tour contender after he narrowly missed taking the maillot jaune on the 2022 Tour de France and completed twelfth general, however this yr he’s placing all of his consideration on one-day races.
“I’ve fairly a number of huge objectives this spring, plenty of the classics,” he stated. “First one will probably be Strade Bianche, [Milan]-San Remo. After which relying on how wholesome and the way I am feeling, hopefully I can race E3 [Saxo Classic] and Dwars door Vlaanderen after which the Ardennes [Classics].
“I will be attempting to win any a kind of. So hopefully I can do one.”
Few riders – apart from Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) – have been in a position to beat Van der Poel and Van Aert once they present up, however Powless is gaining extra self-assuredness with every constructive end result.
“I haven’t got as many bullets as them so I’ve to be very good concerning the selections I make,” he stated.
Up to now few years, Powless has stuffed his spring calendar with week-long stage races corresponding to Paris-Good, the UAE Tour and Volta a Catalunya. To date this yr, he has raced O Gran Camiño however the remainder of the marketing campaign is solely one-day races.
He emphasised that he has to take extra time to get well in between races. “Despite the fact that it is solely one-day racing, it nonetheless takes quite a bit out of you. I believe I could have tried to attempt to prepare too laborious between a few of the races and it caught up with me. So hopefully this yr I can handle that higher.”
With the Paris Olympic Video games on the calendar this yr, Powless can also be prone to lead Group USA within the males’s highway race, the place he will probably be going through all the high one-day racers in professional biking.
Powless is considered one of a number of US riders who’re poised for breakthroughs together with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) and Luke Lamperti (Soudal-Quickstep).
Get limitless entry to all of our protection of the Spring Classics- together with reporting, breaking information and evaluation from the Paris Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianchi and extra. Discover out extra.
