Neilson Powless

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Neilson Powless
Powless in 2023
Personal information
Full nameNeilson Powless
Born (1996-09-03) September 3, 1996 (age 27)
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, U.S.[1]
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight67 kg (148 lb)
Team information
Current teamEF Education–EasyPost
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typePuncheur, Classics specialist
Professional teams
2016–2017Axeon–Hagens Berman
2018–2019LottoNL–Jumbo[2][3]
2020–EF Pro Cycling[4]
Major wins
One-day races and Classics
Clásica de San Sebastián (2021)
Japan Cup (2022)

Neilson Powless (born September 3, 1996) is an American professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost.[5] Powless, who is Oneida, is the first US Native American to compete in the Tour de France.[6][7]

Career[edit]

Early career 2018–2021[edit]

Powless turned professional with LottoNL–Jumbo in 2018. He competed in his first Grand Tour at the 2019 Vuelta a España.[8] Powless, along with Jumbo-Visma teammates Robert Gesink, George Bennett and Sepp Kuss, each finished between 27th and 33rd in the overall standings en route to assisting Primož Roglič in winning the race.

The next season he moved to EF Pro Cycling. He was named on the startlist for the 2020 Tour de France. He rode in support of GC contender and team leader Rigoberto Urán. During this tour he got involved in a breakaway and earned a top 5 stage finish.

Following his strong debut, Powless again was named as part of the EF Team for the 2021 Tour de France.[9] Early in the season he finished 5th in the 2021 UAE Tour, in July he won the 2021 Clásica de San Sebastián, becoming only the second American to do so, and late in the season he finished 5th in the UCI world championship.

2022–present[edit]

Powless in the polkadot jersey at the 2023 Tour de France

During the 2022 Tour de Suisse Powless was active in several breakaways and stayed with the overall leaders throughout the entire race finishing in 4th place overall.

He was added to the start list for the 2022 Tour de France, joining Nairo Quintana as the other Indigenous American rider to start the race.[10] On stage 5 of the Tour, a particularly brutal stage with many cobbled sections, he joined a breakaway that survived to the finish. Overall leader Wout van Aert crashed multiple times giving Powless the chance to move into the yellow jersey. Van Aert was able to limit his losses, but Powless moved into 2nd place overall. At +0:13 this was the closest an American had come to wearing the leader's jersey since Tejay van Garderen tied for the lead in the first week of the 2018 edition.[11] The next day he came within +0:04 of the lead, but Tadej Pogačar seized control of the race and on stage 7 Powless began to fall back. Powless was active in other breakaways throughout the race including being the only rider to attack on kilometer zero of stage 12, which culminated on Alpe d'Huez. Several dozen riders attacked throughout the day but very few survived ahead of the GC favorites. Powless did survive, and placed fourth, he also advanced as high as 3rd place in the mountains classification by the start of the third week.[12] He ultimately finished the Tour in 13th (subsequently upgraded to 12th), the highest ranked rider on the team and the only Team EF rider inside the top 25.

He ended the 2022 season with a solo victory at the Japan Cup.[13]

Powless started the 2023 season with success, winning both the Étoile de Bessèges stage race and the single-day Grand Prix La Marseillaise. He then saw multiple top 10 finishes in the spring World Tour races, including the Tour of Flanders, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Paris–Nice and Milan–San Remo.

He was again selected to race in the Tour de France, where he led the mountains classification for all but one of the first thirteen stages. He ultimately lost the lead to Giulio Ciccone and finished fourth.[14]

Personal life[edit]

His mother Jen Allred ran the marathon for Guam at the 1992 Summer Olympics.[15] His older sister is fellow professional racing cyclist Shayna Powless.[16] Powless married Frances Powless (Chae) in 2020.[17] The couple are expecting their first child in October 2023.[18]

Major results[edit]

2016
1st Overall Joe Martin Stage Race
1st Stage 8 Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stage 3 Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Stage 3a (ITT) Tour de Beauce
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Olympia's Tour
9th Overall Tour of California
1st Young rider classification
2017
National Under-23 Road Championships
1st Road race
3rd Time trial
1st Gran Premio Palio del Recioto
National Road Championships
2nd Road race
3rd Time trial
3rd Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
1st Stage 3a (ITT)
4th Overall Tour of Utah
1st Young rider classification
6th Overall Giro Ciclistico d'Italia
1st Stage 1
6th Giro del Belvedere
2018
7th Overall Tour of Britain
1st Stage 5 (TTT)
9th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
10th Raiffeisen Grand Prix
2019
National Road Championships
2nd Time trial
3rd Road race
7th Overall Volta ao Algarve
7th Japan Cup
2020
4th Overall Herald Sun Tour
2021 (1 pro win)
1st Clásica de San Sebastián
5th Road race, UCI Road World Championships
5th Overall UAE Tour
6th Coppa Sabatini
2022 (1)
1st Japan Cup
3rd Maryland Cycling Classic
4th Overall Tour de Suisse
8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège
2023 (2)
1st Overall Étoile de Bessèges
1st Grand Prix La Marseillaise
2nd Maryland Cycling Classic
3rd Overall Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var
3rd Dwars door Vlaanderen
4th Clásica de San Sebastián
5th Tour of Flanders
6th Overall Paris–Nice
7th Milan–San Remo
Tour de France
Held after Stages 1–4 & 6–13
Combativity award Stage 2

General classification results timeline[edit]

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
A pink jersey Giro d'Italia
A yellow jersey Tour de France 56 43 12 66
A red jersey Vuelta a España 31
Major stage race general classification results
Race 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Paris–Nice 25 DNF 6
Tirreno–Adriatico DNF
Volta a Catalunya NH DNF
Tour of the Basque Country DNF 79
Tour de Romandie DNF 87 14
Critérium du Dauphiné 82 24
Tour de Suisse NH 14 4 20

Classics results timeline[edit]

Monument 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Milan–San Remo 83 7
Tour of Flanders 5
Paris–Roubaix NH
Liège–Bastogne–Liège 92 8 65
Giro di Lombardia 62 51 34
Classic 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Strade Bianche DNF 86
Dwars door Vlaanderen 3
Amstel Gold Race NH DNF
La Flèche Wallonne 19 DNF
Clásica de San Sebastián NH 1 4
Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec Not held 23 20
Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal DNF 33
Legend
Did not compete
DNF Did not finish

References[edit]

  1. ^ "BIO - NEILSON POWLESS USA CYCLING". Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  2. ^ "Powless signs two-year deal with LottoNL-Jumbo". Cyclingnews.com. September 10, 2017. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  3. ^ "Cheery Christmas for ambitious Team Jumbo-Visma". Team Jumbo–Visma. Team Oranje Road BV. December 21, 2018. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  4. ^ Bacon, Ellis (January 1, 2020). "2020 Team Preview: EF Education First". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  5. ^ "EF Education – Nippo". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  6. ^ Ninham, Dan (September 28, 2019). "Catching Up With World Class Cyclists Shayna and Neilson Powless (Oneida) at the UCI Road World Championships". NDNSPORTS. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  7. ^ Kerber, Jasmine (August 29, 2020). "Roseville 23-year-old will make history in his Tour de France debut this weekend". The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on August 31, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  8. ^ "2019: 74th La Vuelta ciclista a España". ProCyclingStats. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  9. ^ "107th Tour de France: Startlist". ProCyclingStats. Archived from the original on August 28, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  10. ^ "Neilson Powless, Nairo Quintana show Indigenous Strength at the 2022 Tour de France". Yahoo! News. July 26, 2022. Archived from the original on July 27, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2022 – via Native News Online.
  11. ^ Talk, Olympic (July 6, 2022). "American Neilson Powless nearly rides into Tour de France lead". NBC. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  12. ^ Biderman, Chris (July 13, 2022). "Roseville's Neilson Powless ascends peaks of Tour de France pecking order". The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on September 18, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  13. ^ "Startlist for Japan Cup 2022". ProCyclingStats. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  14. ^ Stokes, Shane (July 23, 2023). "Tour de France: How Giulio Ciccone edged past Neilson Powless in race for the King of the Mountains". velo.outsideonline.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  15. ^ "Neilson Powless: A name to remember". May 17, 2016. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  16. ^ George, Sue (August 29, 2013). "High school cycling produces world class athletes". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  17. ^ "A Romantic Cliffside Wedding with Breathtaking Views of Big Sur". May 10, 2021. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  18. ^ "first trimester (!)". March 27, 2023. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.

External links[edit]