Neilson Powless’s Stunning Victory: A Cycling Triumph

2025 was a banner year for Neilson Powless. There was his high profile win in the cobbled classic Dwars Door Vlaanderen, a four year contract extension with the team whose title sponsor, EF Education-EasyPost, has signed on for at least those same four years as well and, of course, a new addition to his family.

Reflecting on his 2025 season Powless admits he realized a dream by winning a cobbled classic. “Honestly, it made me hungrier than ever because I got the best spring result that I have had in my career. But, as a whole I was really left wanting more than I got throughout the whole spring. I wasn’t as consistent as I wanted to be which was a bit frustrating.

“It was a learning year,” he added. “Going into those races as one of the leaders of the team. Being the guy who needs to finish it off. That came with its own level of pressure and expectation. I think I needed some time to grow into that role. It all came together in Dwars Door Vlaanderen. I finally came to terms with the position I was handed and did what I needed to do.”

Before his win, Powless’ spring campaign had been going poorly. “E3 [Saxo Classic] just burned me. I felt like I had really good legs but I was almost too nervous to use them to put myself in a position to win or get a result. I was constantly on the back foot. At the finish I was not in a position to win, and I was empty because I tried to make up for it after the fact.”

Defying the odds of three against one

Things completely changed for Powless at Dwars Door in early April, where he took one of the best wins of his career. It was a superb performance, and once which saw him triumph despite a three-versus-one situation.

“I wasn’t on the start line with the confidence that I had the best legs for the whole race,” Powless explained. “I just told myself I didn’t really care what my legs had in them. I was going to do everything I could to put myself in a position to win, even if that meant finishing 10th, 15th, 25th.”

He elaborates on what exactly that meant.

“Classics racing is just so dependent on your position when the race explodes and then after that obviously your legs to be able to capitalize on that,” Powless said. “It’s lots of fighting. Lots of jostling for position and making the right decisions basically on instinct, at the right time. It comes down to when you decide to step out of the draft into the wind to try to make up positions or aggressively put yourself into position. And when do you save and try to just swim your way through the middle of the peloton.”

That’s what ended up happening to him in Dwars Door. “I felt the corner coming and the guy I was behind, it didn’t seem like he was going to be able to move up with the legs he had. So I decided to step out into the wind to do it myself,” recalled Powless. “Those extra ten pedal strokes what may have been wasted energy in one race, ended up being the right time to use that energy in this race and put me into position to race from the front and try to win.”

But now that Powless was in the lead breakaway he was joined by three members of the Visma-Lease a Bike squad, one of the strongest teams in the pro peloton. And, to further complicate things, Visma’s three riders were all strong classic riders, with fellow American Matteo Jorgenson the defending champion!

A tactical masterclass

So just how did Powless manage to win?

“It was definitely a bit of mind games and negotiations more than anything,” he recalled. “I know all three riders quite well. I have raced Tiesj [Benoot] a bunch. I was teammates with Wout [van Aert]. I live down the street from Matteo and we raced on the national team together. So, I think everyone knew everyone’s abilities quite well.

“I just kept telling them ‘it’s one against three. You guys can’t expect me to do any work here.’ But they also knew that I am a good cyclist and if they just do 100% of the work then there is a high chance that I am going to beat them.

“So, it was a constant negotiation of me trying to do less and them trying to convince me to roll through and do more,” explained Powless. “Eventually we settled on that I would roll through but not any more than what Wout was doing, because I knew those guys were working for Wout. If the group from behind was that close all of us needed to keep moving. No one could really afford to just sit on completely.”

It might not have seemed like it but it was a total team effort. EF Education-EasyPost team director Andreas Klier was in the car behind the chasing group making sure that the team’s riders in the chase group kept the gap close enough to ensure that the four in front had to ride to stay away, but not so big so that the Visma riders in the breakaway would start attacking Powless. Everyone on the team did their job that day.

Choosing to commit

Powless’ 2025 season earned him a well-deserved contract extension from the team but that doesn’t mean the 29-year old Californian didn’t explore his options. “I am a pretty practical person so you always have to think of what options you might have,” he remarked. “Anytime you are thinking of signing anything you have to think about it. Four years is quite a long time and teams can change quite a bit in four years. But I know the sponsors we have are committed through [the length] of my contract, so I know the support for the team won’t necessarily change for those four years.

“From what I can tell I truly believe I will still have everything I need to continue to improve and chase after wins in these next four years. I did have thoughts of would I be better if I changed environments, because sometimes a fresh slate might bring faster improvement or different improvements. But in the end I decided to stay because I am improving so much every year that I didn’t want to risk losing that.

“The team is constantly thinking ways we can make adjustments and improve. In the end it was an easy choice to stay but obviously I still did think about it.”

Even though Powless is only 29 years old he is one of the oldest riders on a team that seems to get younger each year. He sees a plus to that.

“It’s nice to be part of a young team because I feel like the teams get a boost from young riders coming in with new ideas. Fresh ways of chopping up [strategizing] bike races, and just a very high ambition to race aggressively which almost always comes from young riders.

“My role in the team is going to start to turn into not only trying to win races, because I still have to hold onto that level that I have and capitalize on that level and experience I have,” said Powless. “But my role is also going to be helping neo-pros and young guys on the team turn into riders who can win monuments and classics and win bike races in general.”

He’s completely fine with that.

“That is super fun. That is a mash up of so much energy and ambition and it is my job to share the experience I have. Show them how to use that energy and more importantly, how to save it so they can really capitalize on it when they need it to win a race.

“If you are in the World Tour you probably have really good power numbers, but where the separation starts to happen is how deep into a race you can use those numbers. That’s just comes with learning how to save energy.”

Two different engines with one common goal

If you watched the EF Education-EasyPost squad in the biggest races, one thing that was abundantly clear is how well Neilson Powless and the team’s other star rider, Ben Healy, worked so well together to bring success to the team.

“It’s a nice relationship to have,” said Powless of his dealings with the Irishman. “We both help each other and it pushes us both further. We are both sort of underdogs in the races we do. When Ben is racing the Tour or the Ardennes Tadej is almost always there and he is the favorite.

“Ben is trying to figure out a way to win. I am happy to help him. When he is not at his best he is happy to ride for someone else.”

Powless explained how their physical capabilities complement each other. “Ben’s power numbers don’t really change from hour number one to hour number six. Mine will change a bit but I just think he doesn’t lose his sustained power. For me, personally, I almost never lose my sprint, but my sustained power starts to fall off after five hours and it is something I have to work on quite a bit.

“That’s why races which are really grinders are a bit more suited to him. Races which are going to have five to twenty minute efforts towards the end of the race are great for him. But races which are decided on one to three minute climbs are suited quite well to me because I almost never lose that one to three minute power.”

“If that means Ben helps me in San Sebastian, then great. If it means I help him in the Ardennes, then great. I think we are both confident enough and are both good cyclists and will get opportunities. If we are at our best we will be racing for the win in whatever race suits us.”

‘Tadej changed the way bike races are raced’

2026 will be Powless’ ninth season in the World Tour. He has seen a lot of changes since 2018, the biggest being the numbers on his power meter. “The peloton is so fast now,” said Powless. “It’s just silly. 400 watts used to be the golden number. Do 400 watts for 20 minutes and you were in the top 10 of any climbing, mountainous race in the world. Now that is what we are doing all day every day.

“The pace of the races is just so high across the board from start to finish. The crux point of a race used to be very specific nine years ago. Now, it is such a grind. Every climb is 6.5 watts per kilo until there are 10 riders left. And then Tadej goes. Tadej has changed the way bike races are raced. When he is not there the peloton races quite differently.”

Powless acknowledges that Pogacar’s UAE squad can bring a team with impressive credentials to the races. “In the Tour de France they have a team of seven riders who can do seven hours over five or six climbs at 20 minutes at 6.5 watts per kilo and still be able to ramp the pace up on the final climb to launch Tadej,” he explained. “Nine years ago, there just wasn’t a team good enough to do that for the best rider in the world. And there wasn’t a rider in the world who could ride a race like that and accelerate towards the end.

“You have this super talent with a team which shapes the race in his favor, and that is how they essentially can guarantee results for him.”

“Physically it’s a very different style of racing than it used to be,” added Powless. “Because of that you also have riders trying to react and trying to adjust to the way they are racing. That just means attacking with 120 and 130km to go and just throwing Hail Mary’s, which you can say is more exciting than it used to be.”

A big debut in Roubaix

Looking forward to 2026, Powless has some ambitious, but attainable goals. “The goal is to win a monument. I want to finish top 10 in [Paris] Roubaix because I have finished top 10 in every monument plus World Championships and I think there are only two or three riders in the last twenty years who have done that.

“I haven’t raced Roubaix yet. If you look at [Mathieu] van der Poel you wouldn’t think there is any luck involved at all but in my opinion there is a lot of luck involved in terms of mechanicals and crashes. So, I want to start racing Roubaix because I would love to get a result there at some point in my career.”

In October of 2025 Neilson and his wife Frances welcomed their second child, a son Remy, to join their daughter Charlotte, into their family. It’s abundantly clear talking to Neilson that his young family gives him balance against the hectic lifestyle of a pro bike racer.

“I am a dad. I have two kids at home. I don’t have time to be that interesting. I am a pretty open book. I pretty much commit all my time off the bike to being a dad and I love doing that as well.

“I look forward to raising my kids and having fun with them. Introducing them to sports and hoping to help them find something that they are as passionate about as I am with cycling.

“Cycling has given me so much joy in life I want everyone to have something like that in theirs.”