"I felt bad for him. I knew how much he wanted that win" - Neilson Powless recalls defeating Wout Van Aert at 2025 Dwars door Vlaanderen

The 2025 Dwars door Vlaanderen was one of the most dramatic races of the season and a day that will be memorable in modern cycling. Team Visma | Lease a Bike attacked the race and created a perfect split out front with three riders in a group of four, but wasted the opportunity and lost out to Neilson Powless. The American, absent this year, recalls how it happened.

“The team didn’t really want me to race it. I actually pushed to ride Gent-Wevelgem as well. The compromise was that I would skip Wevelgem but could ride Dwars. Looking back, that worked out pretty well," Powless said in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.

Perhaps, it became the highlight of his career even. Visma opted not to attack but instead try and take Wout Van Aert to a sprint and guarantee his win. However whilst Powless had his best legs, the Belgian was far from it, and lost in a scenario where on paper he would be the strongest.

“I never thought I would beat Wout in a sprint. Only in the last fifty metres did it start to sink in that I was going to win. I just rode the sprint of my life. Twenty seconds at over a thousand watts. For a non-sprinter, that’s not bad," he explains. It was a fruit of Powless' work as well, who was surprised to be in the front group, but made the best of it at the same time.

“That was one of the best days I’ve ever had on the bike. At that point I knew I had the legs not to crack. I didn’t want to get surprised, so I tried to set the tempo on the cobbles myself at times.”

The American was already happy to be in contention after Visma's raid, and a win was not a realistic scenario on the table after the attack. However the circumstances all favoured him perfectly, and he was able to seize the opportunity with both hands. “I would have been happy with second. I felt Wout was a bit nervous, but I couldn’t believe I had beaten him. First disbelief, then pure happiness. It felt like a childhood dream.”

Although he had mixed feelings after being the one to take it from Van Aert. “I felt bad for him. I knew how much he wanted that win, how much he needed it. He knocks on the door so often and it doesn’t always open. But I also realized how many big results he has already had. My sympathy didn’t last that long.”

“We used to be teammates, and I have a lot of respect for him. I enjoy talking to Wout, but mostly about our kids and how to combine fatherhood with being a pro rider," he explains, with the race not being a topic of discussion. "Waregem is not a topic we bring up. For me it’s a great memory, for him something he would rather forget. And I understand that.”

This year the American couldn't be present to defend his title, as a knee injury has been wrecking his season thus far. He is being forced to miss the entire spring campaign, and hopes to recover in time to properly prepare for the Tour de France.

“I’m allowed to ride outside for an hour for the first time today," he revealed. "My recovery is going slower than expected and that’s frustrating. But I am making progress. There is still some scar tissue. The good thing is the pain is gone, and that’s what matters most.”