"It just makes me so proud to be a part of this team" - Neilson Powless continues to pile up wins as he takes home Etoile de Bessèges title

Neilson Powless took a dominant win in the opening French race of the season at the GP La Marseillaise, but there has been no slowing down for the American as he rolled Mattias Skjelmose into taking the overall win at the Etoile de Bessèges on the final day.

“I knew I would have to ride the TT just off of feel," Powless said in a post-race interview. "At the end of a stage race, it’s all just about what you feel and how much you have left in the tank. I’m just so happy I could repay all the hard work that my teammates gave and get some redemption for myself. This feels amazing.”

The EF Education-EasyPost rider started the French race as one of the favourites, however it would take a lot of work to achieve results with the daily threat of crosswinds and tricky terrain. Powless however put his form to good use always being in the right place at the right time, including the breakaway on the queen stage where several of the GC favourites were at. There he was defeated by Mattias Skjelmose and was on the backfoot for the final time-trial, but he managed to turn things around.

"We couldn’t lose focus for one second, because every day the wind was blowing. The crosswinds were tearing the race apart every day. To not put a foot wrong over five days of that is just such a testament to how strong our team is and how committed we were and how good of teammates I have here," he described. "I couldn’t have picked a better team if I had my pick of the whole WorldTour to support me this week. It just makes me so proud to be a part of this team.”

Powless started the final day 4 seconds behind Skjelmose and the odds seemed to favour the Dane, but although the differences were minimal, Powless managed to take exactly 5 seconds on the Trek - Segafredo rider, enough to take over the race lead. “It feels amazing to have two wins now already. It gives me a lot of confidence and it makes me feel very proud of how far I’ve been able to come and develop as a bike rider and show my standard as a bike racer, not just as a climber or a time trialist or a puncheur," he states.

"Here, I was able to show my ability to really be a part of the race across any terrain. I think that’s my strength: my ability to be a part of the race no matter what. I’ve grown a lot in terms of my ability to follow my teammates well and use them well. I think it’s really created a nice atmosphere in the team and now I have that confidence to start to lead the team better." Powless added.

"It’s not possible to win a race like this with all these cross winds and punchy finishes and stages where every day you have to have perfect position almost the whole day without an impeccable team, a good race plan, a good strategy, a good director. Across the board, the staff, my teammates, the director, everybody was just 100% committed to winning this race overall," he concluded.