Neilson Powless in hunt of "diamonds in the legs" to score big in "any race this spring" against the likes of Tadej Pogacar

Neilson Powless belongs among the most versatile men in the peloton. The 28-year-old American can climb, ride on flat, fly over cobbles and even put in the effort against the clock and sprint after a hard day out in the saddle. This combination of skills brought him six professional victories already, but he aims for more.

"I’d like to be on the podium of a monument," Powless told Velo. "Let’s just say I’ll try to win a monument. But honestly, I don’t really know when I’ll have diamonds in the legs. So I’ll be trying to win any race this spring that I’m feeling good at."

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For the most part of 2024, Neilson Powless was far from his best self due to injury and illness. But he got on the right track after Tour de France. A super compensation? Perhaps. In any case the American suddenly became a regular top-10 feature again in all kinds of races, winning Gran Piemonte with stunning 42-kilometer solo and later the Japan Cup too.

"Yeah, I think the fall last year was about as best I’ve ever been," he agrees. "At least with the sensations I had. It just felt like I could do almost anything. Those feelings don’t come around too often. So luckily there was plenty of racing to be had around that time for me."

"I feel like I finally started to get into a groove there in the fall," he said. "I really hope that I can continue to race that way this year. I’ll try to keep myself healthy and keep myself injury free, because the tendonitis really took me out of almost the whole spring last year."

But can you really do anything to prevent some injuries from happening? Powless believes working on understanding his body better is one of the possibilities: "I’m trying to stay more flexible, a bit stronger than I was last year, and hopefully that sorts things out.”

The peloton is improving at a tremendous pace, is it even possible to keep up? "I’m still getting better each year, but I think just in general, everyone’s also getting a bit stronger," Powless explained. "So I think from where you find your place in the peloton, where I was last fall is probably about where it’s at."

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