As Neilson Powless made his way through the mixed zone in Waregem after placing third at Dwars door Vlaanderen, a television reporter suggested it was a surprise to see the American finish on the podium of this, his very first Flemish Classic. “Yeah? Why not?” he shot back playfully.
Why not, indeed. Powless could joke about it afterwards, but he was absolutely serious about his prospects here from the outset. The EF Education-EasyPost rider hadn’t come to Belgium on a whim, after all. The decision to sample the cobbled Classics this Spring was inspired by a fine display on the pavé at Arenberg on last year’s Tour de France.
“I was coming to the race today with the ambition of trying to win,” said Powless, who was part of the decisive eight-man move that formed over the Knokteberg with 54km to go. Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) would escape in the finale to win in Waregem, while Powless and the surprising Oier Lazkano (Movistar) fended off the closing peloton to round out the podium.
“It was really nice to be up there, and I guess it just confirms my ambitions ever since the Roubaix stage at the Tour de France last year. The cobbles felt ok, I felt really strong over them. I kind of confirmed that I still felt fairly fluid and solid over the cobbles. Hopefully I can continue to be at the front of these races on Sunday at the Tour of Flanders.”
Although Powless cut an assured figure every time the race hit the cobbles, he still to endure an initiation rite typical of races in this pocket of the world. As ever, narrow roads plus tension added up to crashes. Powless had to put a foot down to avoid one shortly on the Trieu, and he then spent the next 10km trying to subtract mud from his cleats. Welcome to Flanders.
“I thought my race was over there. I was behind some crashes, I stepped in a pretty deep pile of mud, and it took me a while to get my shoes clipped back in,” Powless said. “I think I spent around 10k just trying to spray my shoes with water and get fixed up. I had to spend a bit of energy there, right before the race kicked off.”
The race ignited on Berg Ten Houte shortly afterwards, but Powless was always well positioned, and, together with teammate Mikkel Honoré, he joined the day’s pivotal move when it went clear over the Knokteberg ten miles later. The group, which included strongmen Laporte, Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), would spend the next hour or so stalking the remnants of the…
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