“I just don't have the legs I want right now” – Nielson Powless finding best form at Volta ao Algarve after pneumonia illness
Cycling
Neilson Powless has made an impressive start to his 2025 season, and he currently sits in the top-10 finish in the general classification at the Volta ao Algarve. His result is even more impressive given the level of competition, which included Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic, and Joao Almeida.
Making his performance even more impressive is the fact that Powless was battling pneumonia just over a month ago! Despite this setback, he has managed to put himself in the mix against some of the world's best riders.
"It was good to find a move early on the stage, because I wasn't going to beat Jonas or Primoz, so I was happy to get in front," Powless told Cyclingnews. "I didn't have the legs in the end. It was pretty stop and go, the pitches were tough and the road was rough, so you couldn't carry speed too easily. So in general, I can be happy, but unfortunately, it was just not quite enough."
His winter preparation had gone well, and he felt he had reached a new level going into 2024. "I worked really well in the winter and felt I had got to a new level, so I was feeling super-good in January and setting records on testing," Powless explained. "I really thought I was going to open up the season with a bang."
However, that momentum was derailed when illness struck. "But then I just started getting so sick, about halfway through January. It was really like a week healthy and a week sick, a week healthy and a week sick. I got a blood test and found I had pneumonia."
After a course of antibiotics, he was able to train for a week before heading to the Algarve, though he still wasn't at 100%. "I could still tell I was missing some depth, so I hope the Algarve will do that, because I was feeling good, and I want to get back to how I felt then."
Reflecting on his racing instincts, Powless acknowledged that he is still working his way back to his best form. "On Wednesday I was just following my instincts. I mean, I am racing the way I want to be racing, I just don't have the legs I want right now."
He remains optimistic but knows there is still work to do. "I'm hoping they'll come, but my level at the end of the race yesterday was pretty far below what I normally expect for myself, so that's a bit frustrating. Considering how last month went, I was really satisfied with how I was able to get back to the front of bike racing. But I still have a pretty good chunk of ground to make up."
His main focus now is on building back his endurance and race sharpness. "I think eventually my body will get used to pushing that hard and going that intense at the end of a hard day. I think just having to up it again, and more consistent training, a bit more than one week at a time of training."
He understands it will take time to return to peak form. "So that is going to be all I need, but it's going to take me a few weeks until I'm back there."
Despite the struggles, Powless is encouraged by the progress he has already made. "I feel like it's coming, and I feel like I'm getting more consistent each day. I'm feeling good on the bike, it's just at the end of the race I'm getting more fatigued than normal, so that just comes with a bit more time away from illness."
Looking ahead, Powless has clear goals for the coming months. "A top 10 here would be nice, and I'm hoping for a good GC in Paris-Nice. Then my big focus is on the Classics. I just need to get some depth back by then."
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- Nice though you have to ask why they call it a wildcard as it’s always pretty obvious who will receive them.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- Absolutely, we are inundated by articles (not only in cycling or sport but everywhere from stocks to weather to elections) from self-called or popularly regarded experts making calls without reasoning. They basically know little more than any other informed or interested party and base everything on odds. The fact that they never have to justify their wrong calls post event but continue to get to make calls should get some attention. It would be cool if someone tallied up and recorded their predictions for future reference.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- Yes, I agree but you’re taking risks writing such long posts here ;-) In that sense, the Tourless Primoz discussion is also pretty pointless as he virtually won a Tour (nobody would have counted on Tadej doing what he did at the last moment at that time and I guess it was bad karma for Primoz for so ofren cutting things so fine). I think you over interpreted my original thesis, it was not for trying to explain his current state, it was to suggest there was already mental material pre-crashes that has helped worsen his state, when it rains it pours. I really do remember having the feeling in that past he was more focused on not letting MVDP get better than him than doing his own thing. The seed of doubt was already planted and it doesn’t take much for doubt to grow in all sorts of directions.Mistermaumau01-04-2025
- i wouldn't count Pogi out. Low probability of a win, but not impossiblemobk01-04-2025
- Right now it doesn't seem that his legs are there or that his head is in the racevappaxbipmv01-04-2025
- would have been nice to hear exactly WHY he thinks pog has zero chance in some greater detail. i mean, tend to agree that his chances aren’t GREAT, but some explanation from the expert with an opinion would be nice. MINE is that, in spite of the recon he did where tadej concluded that the course “wasn’t that hard” i think that doing the full route at full gas is really going to beat up pogacar’s 145lb body, to a degree that he maybe isn’t expecting. but hey, we’ll see in a couple weeks. like everyone else, i do think it’s supercool that he’s going.OCexile01-04-2025
- Go back to that era and look at the lousy mechanicals he's had at Paris-Roubaix. Take those away, maybe he has another Monument, Van der Poel has one less, and suddenly all the rules change. Those mechanicals preceded his awful crashes - and you're right, that Tour was amazing. Ventoux, TT, and Champs-Elysees?! Something that Pogacar and Van der Poel can't do, just Wout. It still amazes me.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Oh, the impossibility of this kind of comparison. A pre-WW2 Binda had amazing statistics, and that was one era. During what I think of as the romantic era, Poulidor had an incredible run at the Tour without winning, and Bobet won some grand tours and some Monuments. In this modern era (for me: after Hinault), we've had multiple Monument winners win a grand tour (such as Valverde and Kelly, with Kelly the better rider in general), and then we've got someone like Roglic, the true GC rider. Sure there was a Monument that was kind of a fluke (both Pogacar and Hirschi might have won, and twitchy Alaphilippe deserved relegation), but what matters are the 5 grand tours and all these wins across the 1 week GC races except for the Tour de Suisse (you'd think he'd race it to get the set of them all). In this era, since 2000 or so, maybe he meets the description as best non-Tour winner. How many GC riders have these wins and not the Tour? To compare to other eras really is not possible. He's his own unique rider, and it's been amazing watching him for the past many years. That's about all we can say.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Ease up on a brother!bobo01-04-2025
- Primoz finds ways to win. Too bad he'll never take Tour de France.awp01-04-2025