Neilson Powless: "I don’t think that even on one of my best days I could have been able to follow Remco"

Neilson Powless couldn't have as strong of a season as in 2021, however he looked to surprise at the World Championships with a podium result and was actually quite close to it. The American talked to reporters about the race after it concluded.

“I don’t think that even on one of my best days I could have been able to follow Remco when he dropped Lutsenko on that climb. He was on another level today," he said, congratulating the winner and new World Champion Remco Evenepoel who accelerated out of Powless' group with 33 kilometers ago, never to be seen by anyone again - except for Alexey Lutsenko who briefly followed him. 

Powless inserted himself in the group that went clear of the peloton with around 60 kilometers to go, and then had the legs to make it into the front splits it underwent throughout the final two ascents of Mount Pleasant. “I thought I was going to be gone, I thought I’d gotten away from anybody else, I couldn’t understand why that group started working together,” he said.

Powless was however caught by the peloton at some points, unclear as the motorbikes struggled to keep up with all the action. “But that was because five riders came from behind and Italy started pulling for Alberto [Bettiol] and Belgium for Wout [van Aert] so it made sense that they caught me," he explained. "But for a minute I couldn’t understand why they were chasing because right before that everybody was looking at each other and nobody wanted to work."

“In the end, though, it all made sense and I was happy to be there sprinting in the group that was going for the medals. I think the race opened up one or two more laps than I thought it would, but I was kind of guessing that was what was going to happen," Powless concluded.

He ended up riding into a modest 18th position, which earned him some UCI points which are in need at EF Education-EasyPost, and saw him show some more form towards the final races of the year.