Knee surgery, a broken shoulder and viruses - American rider Neilson Powless can't wait to put 'terrible' 2026 season behind him
Cycling
A season to forget for Neilson Powless isn't quite over as he takes on the Tour of Guangxi. While the EF Education-EasyPost rider is relieved to put a year of disappointments behind him, he sees a chance to at least sign off with a bit of momentum.
Racing less than half than he has the previous five seasons, the experienced American rider has endured a turbulent season that saw him first suffer knee inflammation in winter training.
While managing the injury, he opened his season at the Tour de la Provence. However, he abandoned on the third stage and wouldn't race again for almost five months. Undergoing knee surgery after his season opener, the pain subsided but swelling became a major issue that interrupted training.
“I was really in the dark. The injury was really strange because after the surgery, I didn’t have any more pain, which was great," Powless told Domestique.
"But the swelling in my knee was coming and going at such a large extent that some days I just couldn’t bend my knee at all, just because there was so much fluid, and it was pretty much inexplicable."
Powless endures year to forget
The stop-start nature of the issues made it difficult for the 2025 Dwars door Vlaanderan winner to build up a consistent training block as a matter of weeks turned into months.
“At first, we thought it was only going to be two weeks off the bike and then a few months later I could jump back into some racing.
"But it ended up being a month off the bike and even then, when I got back on the bike it was stop and go. It turned into three, four months without knowing if I was even going to race at all this year.”
When he did make his return at the Tour de Pologne, he suffered a heavy crash that led to a shoulder injury. Furthermore, he was taken out of the World Championships picture with illness, missing out on supporting Brandon McNulty's rainbow jersey win in Montreal.
Finishing up at the Classics, the American is frustrated with poor form marring his final block of the season.
“After the knee injury, I crashed twice in Poland and fractured something in my shoulder. And then I had two stomach viruses within three weeks and that ended up taking me out of the World Championships.
Further setbacks after knee injury
"I was performing poorly in the last Italian block I did, which is really disappointing. I mean, I hate going to races and underperforming when I was expecting more, so that was kind of tough, but at least now I feel like I’m finally able to do my job.”
With the WorldTour curtain call at Tour of Guangxi this week, Powless is well placed in the general classification heading into the final stages. He picked up some bonus seconds on stage one, which means he's the best placed of the potential overall contenders after two sprint days so far.
“It’s definitely frustrating because I know if I can just have a period of uninterrupted training, then I can get to a really high level without needing too many race days: I can just show up and be ready to race.
“This year was just terrible, so I hope that I can just finish this year strong, and then just have a smooth winter training into next season.”
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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