When Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) joined the WorldTour eight years ago, he thought he would be a GC rider. Then with a strong fourth-place performance on the cobbled stage 5 of the 2022 Tour de France, he went confidently into Dwars door Vlaanderen the next year and finished third. The US rider said that changed his whole perspective of the cobbled one-day races.
On his return to the cobbles and climbs at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, Powless proved he was indeed a one-day racer. He not only hung in the small army of three Visma-Lease a Bike riders for more than 50 kilometres at the front of the race but then out-sprinted Wout van Aert for the victory.
