Few good things come from a professional sportsperson not being able to do the very sport which brings them both a salary and fulfilment of a burning competitive desire. As was the case for Neilson Powless throughout the first half of the season, after a series of crashes and recurring knee pain kept him out of the Classics.
“It sucked” is how simply the American summed up the frustrating period to Cyclingnews, after missing out on Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders one year on from reaching career-highs of seventh and fifth respectively in the first two Monuments of the season.
Although forced to DNF two stage races in February and March and not race his bike between March 9 to May 10, Powless found a silver lining - a rare chance to spend extra time with his wife Frances and daughter Charlotte, who was born in Autumn 2023.
“Honestly, I feel like I've ended up with a pretty healthy life balance now, where I can kind of check out of the cycling world a bit and just focus on the day-to-day processes that I have to go through,” Powless told Cyclingnews before taking on his first stage race back from knee injury at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
“Because I think especially with wife and daughter at home now, it kind of keeps everything a bit more under perspective. I can just execute the tasks I need to do each day and then keep my focus on the family. That helped a lot.
“I was pretty lucky in that way. Cyclists don't really get, I don't think, too much time at home when they have a young baby, especially during the season, because we're always in and out or at camps or something. That was one good positive.”
Becoming a father has been huge for Powless, 27, developing a new outlook on both life and his career as a cyclist. He won’t be just riding for himself or EF Education-EasyPost at this year’s Tour de France, his fifth, but his family, whose futures are at the forefront of his more focused and ambitious mind.
“I think it's made me a better cyclist in general [being a father]. I feel I'm a lot more focused when I'm at races, basically taking every opportunity now and I'm not squandering anything these days,” said Powless.
“I just know how valuable it is to perform and to get everything I can out of my career because I've got my own future, my wife's future and my daughter's future now to look out for.
“So I just try to keep it professional all the time, just try to take every opportunity I can and yeah, race like my family's life depends on it.”
To this day the first and only tribally recognised Native North American to race the Tour, family has always been incredibly important for Powless, often stating in the past that it was a prime source of motivation.
Born to father Jack, a US Air Force veteran-turned top-level triathlete, who is where his Oneida - one of the five Iroquois Nation tribes - heritage comes from and mother Jeanette, who represented Guam in the 1992 Olympic marathon, Powless and sister Shayna were destined to be professional sportspeople and ended up as cyclists. He'll be flying the flag for both his young family and those who raised him at the Tour this year.
Back from knee injury after a ruined Classics campaign
However, as mentioned, it really wasn’t certain that Powless would make the eight-man Tour team for EF after the nagging knee problems ruined what was due to be his first full Classics campaign with the confidence that he could challenge for wins against the top guys like Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
“I feel like in 2023 I realised that I can perform well in the Spring Classics, and they’re such big races and races I never thought I was going to be a part of. But now I can realistically see myself racing with the best in those races, I really want to perform well at them each year,” said the American.
“That was what was really tough, that this was going to be my first year going into the spring knowing that those were gonna be a goal, and knowing what I could do in them with some confidence.”
The ever-positive Powless was quick to think of the next steps, however, not wanting to live in the past but only look forward. “Unfortunately, I didn't get to race those, which was a bummer. But hopefully, next year will be my year,” he said, also revealing that thankfully the knee problems hadn’t returned since he got back to racing in May at Eschborn-Frankfurt.
The time out of the peloton also made him get a broader perspective on what he sees as “Just having the privilege to race my bike at this level."
“I've just been enjoying riding my bike because after I spent so much time at home away from races, and just watching them on TV kind of gave me a new appreciation for being able to be in races,” Powless said.
"It is like such an awesome feeling. I've been honestly enjoying every race back so much more. To feel good and to be a part of the tactics of bike racing at this level is just such a cool feeling. And it's something that I was really missing all spring.”
Chasing the feeling at the Tour de France
While he logically enjoyed the unexpected extra family time, this June Powless was again itching to chase the feeling that only being amongst the chaos, nervousness and desperation of a professional peloton can bring. Now he's presented with the biggest race on the calendar, one can only assume that the fire to perform is burning even deeper.
“Eschborn Frankfurt was my first race back, and I was really a part of the race there. I was just having so much fun and I just wanted to attack. I wanted the race to be hard. I wanted to test my limits,” admitted the EF rider.
“And I feel like that's kind of the feeling cyclists are always chasing after, you know, the feeling of pushing your limits and just feeling that that fire lit inside of you for competition.”
Powless is now ready to bring that very fire into the Tour de France, where alongside a stacked EF Education-EasyPost lineup, he will chase a maiden Tour de France stage victory, having netted four top-five stage finishes in the past without a win and enjoyed a stint in the polka-dot KOM jersey.
“I'm going into the Tour with high ambitions and big goals,” said Powless on the team’s website.
“Winning a stage is my first and foremost goal, and I think I've got the fitness to do it. It's just about getting it right on the day, just following the right moves and using my energy wisely. I think everyone on the team is eager to take their shot.”
He's joined by GC leader Richard Carapaz, whom he will help in the mountains, and a star-studded group of stage hunters: Ben Healy, Alberto Bettiol, Stefan Bissegger, Merijn van den Berg, Rui Costa and Sean Quinn.
2024 hasn’t been Neilson Powless’ year so far on the road, but a Tour de France stage win could and would be his biggest and best career achievement yet.
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