With the Tour de France kicking off this Saturday in Florence Émilie-Romagne, American cycling fans are daring to whisper the question: “Will an American win a Tour de France stage this year?”
The last American to win a Tour de France stage was Coloradan Sepp Kuss who won stage 15 of the 2021 Tour de France, thereby ending a 10-year drought in which no American rider ever made it to the finish line of a Tour stage first.
Sadly, crowd-favourite “GC Kuss” is sidelined from this year's event due to a battle with COVID. However, an American stage winner is still possible with California-native Neilson Powless (EF Education - EasyPost) on the hunt.
"I really want to win a stage this year. I still haven't gotten one," the 27-year-old said.
Neilson is one of just three Americans in the Tour with him, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma - Lease A Bike) and Sean Quinn (EF Education - EasyPost) making up the American contingent.
In 2023, Powless became the first American to wear the Polka Dot jersey, and he hung onto that jersey for 13 days.
The Polka Dot jersey signifies the rider who is currently leading the mountains classification. Points are awarded to those who reach the summit of each classified climb of the Tour de France first. The harder the climb, the more points offered.
For Powless’ fifth appearance at the Tour, his sights are set not on the climber's jersey but on stage victory.
Despite a nagging knee injury preventing Powless from racing much so far this season, he did appear in good form at the USA Cycling National Road Championships where he helped teammate Sean Quinn take the road race title while Powless took home a bronze medal in both the road race and time trial championship.
Heading to the Tour, Powless said he's got “high ambitions and big goals.”
“I think this was probably the hardest year I’ve had yet with injuries and illnesses…[but] Nationals and the first half of the Dauphiné reassured me I’m back to a really high level [of fitness] after the rocky spring,” Powless said. “Winning a stage is my first and foremost goal [at the Tour de France], and I think I’ve got the fitness to do it.”
In 2022, Powless came close to a stage win. He was even within 13 seconds of the yellow jersey, so competing at the front of the peloton for a stage win isn't unknown territory for the Californian.
And Powless won't be the only American with the potential of netting a stage win.
Jorgenson will help to fill in Kuss’ shoes at this year's Tour, serving as Jonas Vingegaard’s righthand man — a hefty job for the Idahoan's first Tour with the Visma-Lease a Bike team.
Jorgenson has enjoyed quite some success with the Dutch squad already, winning Dwars Door Vlaanderen after an impressive solo ride, and becoming the third American ever to win Paris-Nice race this spring.
For Americans who have long repressed their hopes of U.S. victories at the Tour since the days of he-who-must-not-be-named, we've got 21 exciting stages and three exciting riders to cheer for, beginning this weekend.
