Neilson Powless eager for Paris-Roubaix debut: "Roubaix is such an iconic race"

Neilson Powless recently renewed with EF Education-EasyPost for another four seasons. The American has put a lot of trust into his team and vice-versa, and with time he hopes to try himself out in all terrains. The versatile rider is specially eager to make his debut in Paris-Roubaix.

“I’d like to do it one day, but I don’t want to do it when it’s wet because the Ardennes are kind of dangerously close to Roubaix. I’d like to do it, I’d like to take a stab, but hopefully, I won’t have to sacrifice the Ardennes for it," Powless shared in an interview with Velo. "Those races suit me really well, but Roubaix is such an iconic race. I’d like to partake one day.”

Powless is a very versatile rider, but with that also come decisions. He can't focus in all his goals with peak form, but simultaneously it is hard to choose which races he should target as his results are rather consistent over every terrain. Still, he is a firm believer in experimenting all types of racing and learn from it, hoping to use the experience in the future.

“You just learned from every race you do, and at the cobbled classics that’s just multiplied because it’s so crazy. The more races you do when you’re young, the better," Powless states. "I think at this point in my career, I’ve done just about every race. I just haven’t raced the Giro, and I haven’t raced Paris-Roubaix. But apart from those two I have pretty much done it all and I’ve learned something from every race that I’ve done. Every time I go back to a race now, it’s going to become the second or third time I’m doing them.”

Powless started off the year with a victory at the GP La Marseillaise and then the Etoile de Besseges, followed by a sixth place at Paris-Nice. Whilst it was a brilliant set of results. Then he rode to seventh at Milano-Sanremo, third at Dwars door Vlaanderen and fifth at the Tour des Flandres. This makes for a very successful spring, however he regrets being burned out by the time he reached the Ardennes.

“I think I overdid it at the altitude camp this year. I did kind of struggle to get back to my fitness from that camp. That’s kind of story of my life, just always tend to gain fitness pretty quickly. And then I end up overdoing it because I’m too excited," he tells. Although he can climb and ride the cobbles quite well, Powless - a former Clásica San Sebastián winner - also does particularly well in the hilly classics and hopes to be able to bid his form better in order to have a chance in the Ardennes.

"But each year, I train easier, and I get better. I think it’s an interesting, interesting path of learning that I’m on. Next year again, I hope I can extend that spring fitness out a bit longer. I came into the season really hot in January, I thought I was training easier than I normally do and I ended up being better than I normally am. But I felt like I was at my limit by the time I got to the Ardennes," he concludes.