"It was probably the best ever sprint I’ve done in my life" - Neilson Powless says the 2021 San Sebastian victory opened him doors to the big cycling world

Whichever race Neilson Powless pulls up to, he has to be counted among favourites. After all the 28-year-old American is not afraid of short climb, long climbs, cobbles - he can do it all. But it wasn't so obvious Powless will reach the top of the cycling world - despite having taken his first steps in Jumbo-Visma.

"San Sebastián was where I thought ok, I deserve to be here and physically I can be, so I can take real confidence from this," Powless said in an interview with Cycling Weekly. "The next one was probably Dwars door Vlaanderen, the first cobbled classic that I did, I finished third and realised then that the Classics might be the races for me. Then Dwars again last year and the Tour of Flanders last were some pretty big eye openers."

But Powless still feels that potentially none of what then followed would have been possible were it not for that monumental day in Basque Country in 2021.

"My sports director that day was just so emotional as he lives in that area," Powless added as he reflected on his own personal breakthrough moment. "It's a race pretty close to his heart and he just gave me so much adrenaline, telling me what a big opportunity it was to be going for the win in a major WorldTour race."

The race exploded over the summit of Erlaitz climb with five riders, including Powless and his teammate Simon Carr, breaking away from the peloton with about 40 kilometers to go. When Carr dropped from the group on last climb, only four were left at the front. With Matej Mohoric in the group, not many would bet on Powless in a sprint. But it was perhaps the crashes of fellow escapees Lorenzo Rota and Mikkel Honoré which shook up the cards for the sprint. The latter caught back to the leading duo, but in a sprint of three, Powless was able to narrowly edge off both Mohoric as well as the Dane.

"I still think that was probably the best ever sprint that I’ve done in my life at the end of five hours or whatever it was," he confides. Later that year, Powless went on to finish fifth at the World Championships in Leuven, underlining his entrance among the world's best.