"I’m already in love with this polka-dot jersey" - Neilson Powless consolidates lead in King of the Mountains classification at the Tour de France

After a big day out in the breakaway, Neilson Powless consolidated his lead in the King of the Mountains classification at the Tour de France, much to the EF Education-EasyPost rider's delight.

"Today’s stage went sort of according to plan. We wanted to be on the breakaway, be it with me or with any of my teammates. In the end, it was me who went on a breakaway that was too small and made me spend more energy than I would have liked," he recaps to the Tour de France website. "When the road got wet, we started to hope and believe it might be possible to make it to the finish. Unfortunately, I lost Rémi Cavagna and Edvald Boasson Hagen too early. Had we been together until Jaizkibel, we may had made it to the finish line, but we were all in our limit."

Sadly for Powless, the GC riders behind were intent on the stage win. As such, maximum points on the biggest climb on the day weren't on offer for the American. Nevertheless, it was a successful day out for the 26-year-old.

"When I hit Jaizkibel, the only thing I could do was riding on my threshold and hoping for the best. But, as things panned out, I would have needed to be one minute faster up the climb to keep the main group at bay. It just wasn’t meant to be my day," he continues. "As for the KOM classification, it’s still a narrow lead - if I miss one break in the mountains it will be gone, and we are still a long way from reaching Paris. It’s very nice to be in the lead. I’m already in love with this polka-dot jersey. I fell immediately in love with it, indeed. Let’s see for how long I can wear it."