"Breakaways that would have made it 10 years ago aren’t going to make it" - Neilson Powless on the rising difficulty to win a Tour de France stage

Winning a stage of the Tour de France can often be seen as the pinnacle of a rider's career when they hang up their bike. In recent years, thanks in part to the all-conquering dominance of Tadej Pogacar, winning stages has seemingly become an even tougher task, something EF Education - EasyPost's Neilson Powless knows all too well.

With five Tour de France appearances on his palmares, Powless has claimed 5 stage top-10s at the French Grand Tour over the years, even spending 12 days in the polka-dot jersey in 2023. A stage win though, has so far proven a step too far for the American talent. In 2025 though, that is something Powless is looking to change.

“Stage win, that’s the main objective,” the 28-year-old said in quotes collected by Domestique at the team presentation on Thursday evening in Lille. “There’s a handful of stages in the first half but I can’t really put a pin on a single stage, there’s plenty of opportunities but it’s a long race and an unpredictable race, so you have to take a shot at a few different stages."

“Carcassonne [stage 15] is a huge opportunity as well for the breakaway," he continues, although as he notes, the GC teams might have something to say about any breakaway hopes. "Honestly, it’s almost like each day we’re going to have to reassess whether it’s going to be a good day for the breakaway, because it’s going to be unpredictable with what the GC teams are going to do. You sort of have to make up your strategy for breakaways on the fly.”

“I’m sure there’s going to be scenarios where we’re both going to go for the same breakaway and if we do both get in it’s just better odds for the team winning, so if we’re both in a breakaway then that would be super super fun," Powless adds.

As already touched upon, from the outside at least, it seems as if the GC leaders have really stepped up their cannibalistic natures in recent years, making breakaway wins even rarer than they were in the past. For Powless, this seems like a trend that is only going to continue in 2025.

“I think a lot of the breakaways that probably would have made it ten years ago aren’t going to make it nowadays,” Powless acknowledges in conclusion. “The pace is just so high from the GC group in the mountains, they almost race it like a time trial, their teams, so it’s tough to beat that, but like I said, the Tour is very unpredictable, you still have to take those chances.”