Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) regained the polka dot jersey at the Tour de France one day after slipping out of the mountains classification lead. The North American made the day's early breakaway and claimed the maximum points on the Côte de Capvern-les-Bains and Col d'Aspin to move ahead of Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) for the lead.
"I've gotten a taste of how easily you can lose it," Powless said of the conspicuous jersey. "For now I'm just going to enjoy every moment of having it while I have it."
Powless led the Tour de France mountains classification from stage 1, where he claimed five points atop the Côte de Vivero and padded his lead by making the breakaway on stages 2 and 3. He carried 18 points into stage 5 but Gall made the breakaway and took 20 points on the above-category Col de Soudet and held on for second on the stage atop the Col de Marie Blanque for another 8 points.
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In the second mountain stage in the Pyrenees, Powless didn't make the first escape group but, knowing there were enough points available on stage 6 to Cauterets-Cambasque to regain the lead, he fought to get across.
"Today was really, really hard. Very painful," Powless said. "From the beginning, I saw the move was dangerous and it was a good opportunity to take points so I was able to get across with a few other riders. But it took about 10 to 15k and I was just giving everything I could to come across, and continued to try to get every point I could."
Powless was able to join Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Oliver Naesen (AG2R Citroën) in bridging across to an earlier move that included his own teammate James Shaw in time to sprint for the 2 points at the Côte de Capvern-les-Bains. Then, he fended off the rest of the group to snag a handy 10 points on the Col d'Aspin.
For good measure, he fought to the top of the above-category Col du Tourmalet despite being dropped from the breakaway. He came over the top of the climb in sixth place for six points and now leads Gall by 8 points, with Uno-X's Tobias Johannessen in third another two points down the rankings.
"I was very happy to snag quite a few points today and keep myself in the battle," Powless said. He'll be able to keep the polka dots without worry for the next two stages, which have only four minor climbs between them.
"I'll enjoy every moment of these next easy stages."
