Neilson Powless opens his 2026 campaign on Friday at Tour de la Provence but after injury stymied the EF Education-EasyPost rider's off-season build the early focus will not be on chasing his own victories; instead he will be supporting new signings Michael Leonard and Luke Lamperti as the two hunt stage wins across three days in France.
Powless is now 29 but is now in his ninth WorldTour season and seventh with EF Education-EasyPost so is "shifting professional ambition" to "share some of my knowledge" with a group of riders between 20-23.
“My form is improving but it ended up being a 12-week off season so it was quite long. I injured my knee and created tendonitis off the injury so I had to sort of halt my training. I’m four weeks into training and just trying to build my fitness up again. It just took a really long time for that to heal," Powless said in a team press release.
"Races are very motivating for me. It’s going to be three good, hard days of racing. We’re going with Luke [Lamperti] for sprinting ambitions and Michael [Leonard] for the climbing stage. I’ll be there to support the team and hopefully come out of the race better than I went in and want to keep on improving for the rest of the spring.”
Lamperti, 23, is a three-time USPro criterium national champion and was third in a fast final at Nokere Koerse last year while riding for Soudal-QuickStep. Leonard, just 21, is a two-time Canadian time trial national champion with skills on all terrain. Both already opened their year at the Tour Down Under and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
Four riders from the EF Education-Aevolo development squad complete the roster - Gavin Hlady, Tomos Pattinson, Magnus Carstensen and Josh Golliker.
“At Provence, we’re going for stage wins. We have clear goals for each day which is the reason why I’m going. I’m not really going for a result myself but it’s really motivating to help my teammates try to achieve a result and help the team. Even if my fitness isn’t great, I think I’ve become a rider who’s able to contribute a lot of value even just by supporting other riders on the team," he said.
After a big year that included a victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen, Powless took time off the bike in October to help his wife with the birth of their second son, Remy, but then injured his knee. That led to tendonitis in the same joint so he halted all training.
"This is the longest injury I’ve had to come back from. I think the hardest point throughout the whole thing wasn’t necessarily reshaping my goals for the season because I know how many races there are in the season. The hardest thing for me was just not having the outlet that I’ve had for the rest of my life," he explained.
"I didn’t need any surgeries but it was just injured in an area that would get agitated even from just walking so it was a difficult one to fix but now it’s all good. At the same time it pushed my goals back by a couple of months.
"Originally we weren’t sure how long it was going to take but now we have a pretty clear plan of when we think I can start racing for the win."
That time should come at the end of March when he takes on one-day races in Belgium, after racing in Italy to start that month - the ProTour-level Trofeo Laigueglia and Milano-Torino combined with the WorldTour Strade Bianche and Milano-Sanremo.
"After the Italian block, I will head up to Belgium for almost all of the classics. That’s been the most motivating thing for me, being able to compete in the classics, from the Flemish classics to the Ardennes and Roubaix in between. I’m really hoping that by the time I get to the Flemish classics, I’ll be firing on all cylinders and ready to compete for the win." Powless said.
"Everything before that, it’s nice if I can reach competitive shape but we’re not really expecting it until I get up to Belgium. I think this time off the bike will just give me more freshness for the classics."
The team's Belgium races include E3, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Amstel Gold, Paris-Roubaix, La Flèche Wallonne and Lèige-Bastogne-Lèige, and Powless said he'd "like to race all of those".
