Few riders in the current peloton will likely have had such a rollercoaster off-season as Neilson Powless this winter. But despite still feeling the consequences of catching pneumonia barely a month back, the EF Education-EasyPost racer now says he's convinced that, with form and condition, he's finally heading in the right direction.
For fans watching Powless at the Volta ao Algarve, 10th at the Alto do Foía finish on Thursday after making it across to the winning breakaway at the foot of the final climb felt like a surefire sign that he was on the comeback trail. But from the American's own point of view, it was not quite as simple as that.
"It was good to find a move early on the stage, because I wasn't going to beat Jonas [Vingegaard] or Primož [Roglič], so I was happy to get in front", he told Cyclingnews at the Foia finish on Thursday.
"I didn't have the legs in the end. It was pretty stop and go, the pitches were tough and the road was rough, so you couldn't carry speed too easily. So in general, I can be happy, but unfortunately it was just not quite enough."
"I worked really well in the winter and felt I had got to a new level, so I was feeling super-good in January and setting records on testing," Powless explained to Cyclingnews. "I really thought I was going to open up the season with a bang.
"But then I just started getting so sick, about half way through January. It was really like a week healthy and a week sick, a week healthy and a week sick. I got a blood test and found I had pneumonia."
Under normal circumstances firing on all cylinders in the early races for Powless would not have been at all surprising, either. It wasn't just that after 2024's superb finale, where he won races like the Gran Piemonte from a long solo break and the Japan Cup for a second time in his career, his confidence was likely to be on a high for 2025.
Back in 2023, Powless had claimed both the GP Marseillaise and Étoile de Bessèges in February. So put that all together, and there's even more of a questionmark over how he could have performed if pneumonia had not had such a major impact on his early season this time round.
A course of antiobiotics allowed him to train for a week before heading to the Algarve and Powless was able to start his season, albeit not feeling at 100%. He could, he said, still tell he was "missing some depth, so I hope the Algarve will do that, because I was feeling good, and I want to get back to how I felt then."
After a 23rd place in the Figuiera Champions Classic and Wednesday's 'opening-stage-that-wasn't' in Algarve, Thursday represented the first major test of his climbing strength, and Powless came away feeling positive, but realistic about what has to be done now.
"On Wednesday I was just following my instincts, I mean I am racing the way I want to be racing, I just don't have the legs I want right now," he said.
"I'm hoping they'll come but my level at end of the the race yesterday was pretty far below what I normally expect for myself, so that's a bit frustrating. Considering how last month went, I was really satisfied about how I was able to get back to the front of bike racing. But I still have a pretty good chunk of ground to make up."
As for what he has to do from hereon to end up hitting the high notes again, rather than take drastic action, Powless says "I think it's just time".
"I think eventually my body will get used to pushing that hard, and going that intense at the end of a hard day. I think just to having to up it again, and more consistent training, a bit more than one week at a time of training," he confirmed.
"So that is going to be all I need, but it's going to take me a few weeks til I'm back there,"
As for what his immediate and longer-term goals are going to be, if Algarve is going to be somewhat below his ambitions, further down the line he's still aiming to be hitting it hard in the second part of the first half of 2025.
"I feel like it's coming, and I feel like getting more consistent each day. I'm feeling good on the bike, it's just at the end of the race I'm getting more fatigued than normal, so that just comes with a bit more time away from illness,", he concluded.
"A top 10 here would be nice, and I'm hoping for a good GC in Paris-Nice. Then my big focus is on the Classics. I just need to get some depth back by then."
