Cort Nielsen win "takes some pressure off the team" says Neilson Powless
Cycling
Neilson Powless was, at the start of stage 11 at the Tour de France, 11th in the overall classification and ninth out of those who are contesting it. Now EF Education-Easypost's only GC cards, the responsibility lies on the American who is giving it a shot.
After the stage 10 finale in Megève Powless was clear on how it was necessary to race now to keep the ambition alive: “For now, it’s pretty straightforward: just hanging around with the GC riders as best I can. If I’m performing well and with the GC group, then that’s perfect, and I’ll keep doing that. But if I end up losing time, maybe I’ll lose enough to be able to go in the breakaway.”
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As a puncheur, he was expected to come to the race with stage-winning ambitions, but after a successful breakaway in Arenberg, he came very close to the yellow jersey. The rest of his race will depend on how the first high mountain stages go, but the American revealed the team is under less pressure after Magnus Cort Nielsen's win.
“I think it just takes some pressure off the team as a whole. You’ve got to get your first one before you can get some real momentum going. Hopefully this opens the door for more," he pointed out. “Every day we set out with a plan, and we pretty much nailed our plans in almost every stage so far".
“The win hadn’t come yet but we were just trying to be faithful that it would work out for us in the end if we kept executing, and today it finally came together for us, so happy days," Powless described. Having had the Dane present in several breakaways and also leading the KOM classification for most the Tour so far, the team's race is so far a success.
“This hopefully means the start of an upward trend for our team, some upward momentum. Magnus has been pretty incredible on the Tour so far, putting on a show for the fans and representing our team really well, and I’m so happy he was able to show his stuff at the finish too," Powless concluded.
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- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024
- I'm loving the level of competition and the compositions of teams in 2025. Sure Pogi had an historic 2024. Slate is clean in 2025. And lots of great athletes--MvdP, Vingo, Primoz, Remco, Marc Hircshi, Pidcock, Carlos Rodriquez--and strong teams want to win. I think Pogi will have another great season in 2025. But I think we will talk about others having great seasons too. Who? I don't know. I'll watch the classics and tours and will root for spirited competition.pidginbil24-12-2024
- Sorry but 50€ a day for an international hotel was already a joke 6 years ago. Combined with the fact a lot of them are international chains, this is just capitalism as the West has taught. I think the business term used now is « dynamic pricing « and it happens everywhere. Maybe some will now reflect on how 3rd world delegations are discriminated by prices when they have always had to travel to meetings, hence distorting results and silverware. We will also still have to see how things work out visa-wise, how many participants will be refused as in Glasgow and on what basis? As regards Pog, the coach had better put in place a strategy to avoid his boycotting for personal political reasons, that’s at least as big a problem as logistics.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- By the way AI can only answer what it knows and there are many things it doesn’t and will never know.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- No but they spent a fortune on a cookie to predict the unpredictable. So much for tech and data and experts. Always useful in the service of opaque agendas.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Pog doesn’t do xc, might never try and has admitted he’d have no chance against MVDP in this. Shame really because I’m sure quite a few fans would enjoy watching him try and it would complicate the discussion of who is more complete which almost completely ignores off-road talent. Anyway, merr Xmas to all, keep next season in mind as you let go at the table the next days ;-)Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- USA Cycling couldn't have predicted what would happen with the star-studded Dutch team...Pogboom24-12-2024
- i don’t know about it being a “nightmare” for mathieu, but he did lose. flanders is a similar nightmare i suppose for almost anyone who gets dropped on the paterberg at the end. very hard to chase back.OCexile24-12-2024
- yeah, i’m not sure you can say that van der poel was so dominant in the spring “because van aert wasn’t there.” who knows how wout would have farted against mathieu in those races, because HE WASN’T THERE. wout has never beaten mvdp in any cobbled monument, but maybe he would have IF HE’D BEEN THERE. maybe, just like mads, et al, he’d have gotten smoked. we’ll never know, BECAUSE…OCexile24-12-2024
- You are dreaming. MvdP has won Flanders 3 times and come second twice, once against the Pog in a very close race. He has convincingly beaten the Pog directly in MSR twice as well.Velovibes24-12-2024