American Neilson Powless forced to give up on cobbled classics following knee surgery

Neilson Powless was one of the riders who marked the 2025 spring campaign with his surprising triumph over Team Visma | Lease a Bike at Dwars door Vlaanderen, but this time around he will be missing it. The American rider is missing out on several months of racing now after undergoing a surgery set to fix a knee problem he has had over the winter.

Powless has been affected by a knee inflammation that has ultimately delayed his start of the season due to having unplanned time off training during the winter; and his return at the Tour de la Provence wasn't met with the feedback he had expected. Whilst he managed to work his way back into base form, the pain returned; and after the French race the decision was made to undergo a surgery that looks to put an end to this problem.

“Surgery to remove the inflammatory tissue gave us a much better chance of a permanent fix,” team doctor Jon Greenwell said in a press release issued by the team. “The operation went well, and after the eight- to twelve-week recovery window, Neilson will be able to return to riding with no long-term impairment from the injury.”

This ultimately means the 29-year will not be able to race this spring; but if his recovery process goes as planned, he should have time to recover his best form in time for the summer and the Tour de France. “At least now we can say that the problem is solved and I can move forward with a clear path of recovery," Powless himself said.

"It is extremely disappointing to be missing out on the classics. I was excited to try some new races this year. I had a plan of races I wanted to target and do well in, so this is a big disappointment," he admits.

"This spring will be a recovery period for me. I'll be able to watch my teammates on TV and spend extra time with my family, and hopefully bring some extra motivation and energy for the second half of the season. This is not something that's going to take me out for a really long time, but it's something that we will need to be cautious with. It will be a couple of months before I can plan a race, but it's nice to have a clear plan of recovery.”

Powless is a one-day race expert and ultimately a very important rider for EF Education-EasyPost, who deploy a lot of their resources into riders who can perform in the one-day races. Powless could not only have leadership in some of the cobbled classics but also the Ardennes and stage-race, where he is an experienced stage-hunter but also occasion GC performer. However none of that is possible with a hurting knee, a common injury amongst pro riders.

“Over the course of the last two months, I had three scans of my knee and the first two showed really promising recovery. After the second one, I was able to return to training pain-free, which was promising. I was even feeling strong enough to go to a race and start my preparations for the season, but on the third day of the race, I felt pain again and had to stop," he reveals. A DNF in the results sheet and the lack of cycling sessions in his public Strava hinted towards the worst outcome.

"I had another scan done, and it showed that the inflammation had never fully gone away, even though I couldn't feel it. Surgery was going to give me the highest chance of success, so we opted for surgery. It’s my first surgery ever, but I was in good hands with the doctors here. Together, with the medical staff from the team, we were always making decisions together, and everyone's on the same page about recovery and where to go from here.”