Neilson Powless ready for Tour of Flanders: "You need a bit of luck but you also need confidence. I definitely gained one of those at Dwars"
Cycling
Neilson Powless become the surprise winner of Dwars door Vlaanderen, the traditional appetizer before second Monument of the season - the Tour of Flanders. Prior to the race on Wednesday, you wouldn't find the American's name listed among favorites. But after his triumph over Visma | Lease a Bike, that is no longer the case.
"Flanders is a race that demands a complete cyclist," Neilson says in pre-race team press release. "That is the best way I could describe myself. I'm not the best climber and I'm not the best sprinter and I am not the best time trialist, but I'm pretty good at all of them, so I feel like I'm very complete. That is a blessing and a curse, but I think for Flanders, it's a blessing. If I had to pick one race, Flanders is my top, top, top favorite."
Powless didn’t grow up thinking he would be a classics rider. But the strong performance on the cobbles of the 2022 Tour de France sparked his imagination. The next spring, he went to De Ronde, finished fifth and fell in love with the race. All the more disappointed he was to miss out on last year's edition.
Neilson Powless wins Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025 ahead of Visma trio
"I hope I can fight for the win, or at least fight for the podium," Neilson says. "In these races, you need a bit of luck but you also need confidence. I definitely gained one of those at Dwars."
It won't be an easy task for Powless against superstars and past winners Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar joining the already strong field from Dwars door Vlaanderen. The best strategy for Powless would therefore be to approach De Ronde similarly to Dwars - that is to anticipate moves from biggest favorites by attacking from far out.
EF Education-EasyPost for 2025 Tour of Flanders:
- Owain Doull
- Mikkel Honoré
- Neilson Powless
- Colby Simmons
- Harry Sweeny
- Marijn van den Berg
- Max Walker
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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