EF Education-EasyPost has had a mixed start to this year's Tour de France. On stage 3, Richard Carapaz took the Maillot Jaune however, the following day as the route took the peloton over the Col du Galibier he lost time to his GC rivals putting him outside the top 20 and more than five minutes back.
With the team's hopes for a GC podium looking to be over, it is now time for the stage hunting to commence. One rider who will have a keen eye on crossing the finishing line with his hands in the air is 27-year-old Neilson Powless.
Powless is capable of pulling something out of the bag when the going gets tough. He comes into his own in attritional, punchy races. The second and third weeks of the Tour will provide the perfect launchpad for the American to jump in an early move and look to hold off the peloton to claim a maiden victory at the French Grand Tour.
The bike he hopes to carry him to stage victory is Cannondale’s SuperSix Evo, which carries a Lab71 paint job. Launched in March 2023, Lab71 is the culmination of Cannondale’s best materials and technology. The Lab71 bikes share the same silhouette as the standard SuperSix Evo and Hi-Mod framesets, but use the brand’s Ultralight Series 0 carbon fibre that is both stiffer and lighter than that found in the other models.
Interestingly, however, for reasons unknown, EF Education EasyPost race aboard the Hi-Mod version of the frame.
Cannondale makes two road race bikes with the SuperSix joined by the SystemSix aero bike however, EF Education Easy-Post have adopted a one-bike strategy since the Lab 71’s release, mostly as it seems the SystemSix has been effectively mothballed in recent years.
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