"I never thought in a million years that I could beat him in the sprint" - Neilson Powless on taking down Visma and Van Aert at Dwars door Vlaanderen
Cycling
Neilson Powless has taken the biggest win of his career today at Dwars door Vlaanderen, still it is overshadowed by the failure of Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The EF Education-EasyPost rider benefited from a massive mistake, but nothing can be taken away from a perfect day in the American rider's shoes.
"I really can't believe it. I felt really good today, but I didn't think I had a chance to win in that group. I thought I was riding for second place," Powless said in a post-race interview. "I really can't believe it, I'm just so happy".
"Thanks to my family, my team, everyone who supports me. It's been a tough spring so far, but today I'm so happy that I'm back where I know I belong".
The 28-year old hadn't shown great form thus far this spring (besides a sixth place at the Volta ao Algarve), but it seems like it came in just in time. Within days of the Tour of Flanders, his first big goal of the spring, he managed to anticipate Visma's massive collective attack and then hold their wheel once they turned up the gas.
In the final hour of the race he worked together with them, and in the final minutes he just needed to follow the wheels. Visma did not try to attack him, and bet on a sprint after Wout van Aert asked for it. "I thought Wout would be the strongest in the sprint, so that people would really bet on him. I never thought in a million years that I could beat him in the sprint".
Powless had the legs, whilst the Belgian had the cramps. "I came into the last corner with a fair bit of speed, 3 or 4 kilometers per hour more than Wout. I just went full throttle to the finish line, because there wasn't a lot of space between that last corner and the finish. So I had to start my sprint right away and pray".
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It was a win that has shocked the cycling world, the Dutch team bet on a van Aert win specifically and ultimately threw away a perfect opportunity to win as they had outnumbered Powless 3-to-1. "I didn't know either and my team DS and I communicated about whether I should ride or not".
"There were still quite a few riders behind us. I felt good and I felt good especially on the cobblestones. So I didn't feel like a sprint from a larger group. It also didn't feel like I had to put in too much effort to join in a bit, because otherwise they would have attacked. I was a rock in a hard place, but I'm proud of how I rode".
"This is the biggest victory of my life. I hope I can compete for the win there (at the Tour of Flanders, ed.), or at least compete for the podium," he concludes. "In these types of races you need a bit of luck, but above all you need confidence. I definitely gained some of that today".
What a final kilometer of #DDV25! 🤯 #FLCS pic.twitter.com/irSbHvoUvu
— Dwars door Vlaanderen (@DwarsdrVlaander) April 2, 2025
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- Yes, I get that but it wasn’t exactly a good comparison if you ask me, circumstances and competition were very different. Also crashing whilst staying up front is pretty different from crashing and being left behind.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Pidcock was riding at a hard enough pace until the sector where Pogacar made up something like 20 seconds in something like... 20 seconds. Pidcock was quite a bit ahead, and suddenly he wasn't. At that point, clearly he would get caught, so might as well get caught sooner and work together. That's just good cycling. (I think the point is, plenty of people win even after they've come down in a crash - Van der Poel crashed at the worlds and won, anyway, for example).RidesHills08-04-2025
- Great sprint, Ineos set him up at exactly the right time, they protected the corners through the turns, and he did the job he was supposed to do. Nice to see him win again.RidesHills08-04-2025
- When Vingo, Rogla, and Wout were all at the height of their powers, a sight to behold.mobk08-04-2025
- To quote the article: riders from Arkéa - B&B Hotels and a few others seized the moment to launch an attack, increasing the pace as Pogacar was briefly off the bike. Not coolmij08-04-2025
- I don’t think it was a matter of easing up. I think it was a matter of attacking. And MVDP said his team would respect similar situations. Perhaps not on the penultimate climb, but I believe they would. To accelerate is a jerk move.mij08-04-2025
- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025