"The crash is what decided the race" - Neilson Powless rues split which ruled him out of Worlds contention

Neilson Powless is a specialist in the hilly one-day races and found his best form after the Tour de France. He was fourth at the Clásica San Sebastian and then 11th at the World Championships, however throughout most of the race he was in the battle for the Top5 and did not hide from taking risks.

Powless was part of the reduced group that was heading into the final hour of racing, until Jhonatan Narváez crashed in a wet corner. This caused a split in the group, with the four riders who finished in the first four spots (and Tiesj Benoot) going clear, and the rest of the group having to chase on. Powless was the closest chaser, but alone he was not able to close the gap. "I knew it was gonna be really, really tough to close it. So I tried to close it immediately - just give everything I had, and I came up about 50 metres too short," he said in a post-race interview.

"So I'm really, really disappointed about that. Because yeah, the winner came from that group. And I was right there. I think they also saw they had a gap. They were going just as hard as I was if not harder," he adds, disappointed with the outcome. He was later joined by Mauro Schmid and Toms Skujins who worked together and got themselves in position for a Top5 as Alberto Bettiol cracked towards the finale, but the group behind collaborated well enough to catch them before the finish. As a result of his many efforts Powless was then dropped and finished just outside the Top10.

"The crash is what decided the race. At least that's what this is what decided my race. I was the first one to start chasing because everyone kind of hesitated for a second but they hesitated for two seconds and it was over," he laments. "So I was really disappointed about that. But you know, I still have fun racing, along with all the suffering."