Neilson Powless (EF Schooling-EasyPost) has one aim this 12 months, and it is to win a Traditional. 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 12 months 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 one among a number of indicators of his potential after a 3rd in Dwars door Vlaanderen and seventh in Milan-San Remo.
Chatting with Wielerflits, Powless laid out his ambitions that may put him in direct competitors with prime contenders Van Aert and Van der Poel.
“It is all the time enjoyable racing towards them,” Powless mentioned. “They’re actually aggressive, actually robust. I really feel like within the final couple of years have began to shut the hole to them a bit of bit. You understand 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 12 months on the World Championships in Glasgow, Powless completed eleventh behind winner Van der Poel however was virtually on the wheel of the profitable breakaway when it went clear – a heartbreaking however encouraging consequence.
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 total, however this 12 months 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 mentioned. “First one shall 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 – other than Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) – have been capable of beat Van der Poel and Van Aert once they present up, however Powless is gaining extra self-assuredness with every constructive consequence.
“I haven’t got as many bullets as them so I’ve to be very good concerning the selections I make,” he mentioned.
Up to now few years, Powless has crammed his spring calendar with week-long stage races equivalent to Paris-Good, the UAE Tour and Volta a Catalunya. Up to now this 12 months, 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 better in between races. “Regardless that it is solely one-day racing, it nonetheless takes lots out of you. I feel I could have tried to attempt to practice too arduous between a few of the races and it caught up with me. So hopefully this 12 months I can handle that higher.”
With the Paris Olympic Video games on the calendar this 12 months, Powless can also be prone to lead Group USA within the males’s street race, the place he shall be going through all the prime one-day racers in professional biking.
Powless is one among 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).
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