Could a third time be the true charm for Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) at the Maryland Cycling Classic? After all, the US rider has been on the podium in the previous two editions and Baltimore is labeled as 'Charm City'.
"I’m excited to go back. It looks like it might be a little bit less climbing than before it, so it could fall more towards the sprints this year, but they said that about the last course as well, and it ended up being very open," Powless told Cyclingnews from his home in Houston, Texas.
Powless will line up for Saturday's UCI ProSeries race alongside USPro road race champion Colby Simmons, Trofeo Ses Salines winner Marijn van den Berg, Darren Rafferty, Alastair MacKellar and Alex Baudin. Simmons is the only teammate who has competed at the Maryland Cycling Classic before, finishing 30th for the US national composite team in 2023.
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The bulk of the season so far has been another stellar showing for the 29-year-old, with a win at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, which he called "a dream come true", and another at the GP Gippengen. He also scored top 10s at Trofeo Laigueglia, Eschborn-Frankfurt and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Powless has been in the US for several weeks after completing his sixth consecutive Tour de France and going sixth at Donostia San Sebastian, the time in Texas to acclimate to the US time zone, southern climate conditions, spend time with his wife, who is expecting their second child in the fall, and then celebrate his birthday on Wednesday.
"Heat plus humidity makes for a nasty combo. I've been training in very hot weather and I'll be ready for it if it's hot. And if it's not, then I think the heat training will still help. It's always a hot one in Baltimore," he said. The advance weather report for Baltimore calls for a warm 29°C day with rain showers.
"But it's been nice to be back in America for a while and train in some hot, humid environments and spend time with family when I'm not on the bike. It's been a nice recharge."
In the two editions of the Maryland Cycling Classic, Powless was part of front groups that got away on a route that traversed a long section of 144km (90 miles) on rural roads in northern Maryland and then finished with a decisive 12km (7.5-mile) downtown circuit at Baltimore's Inner Harbour.
The first time, Powless was third in a five-rider breakaway, and the second time, he made his way into another five-rider group, this time Mattia Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) attacking solo for the win and Powless best of the chasers in second.
Powless and cobbles
This year the route has been modified - gone is the start in Sparks, Maryland and replaced with a 28.8km (17.9-mile) circuit around Baltimore County, which will be completed six times by the men for a total of 172.8km (107.4 miles). A UCI women's one-day contest has been added, which will complete four laps earlier on the same day.
"So, I haven't gotten the chance to see the course with my own eyes yet, apart from on Veloviewer, but I'm hoping that there's going to be some opportunities to open up the race. With the circuit in the city, I'm pretty excited to have lots of fans out cheering us on. They'll be able to see us a lot, which isn't always normal for cycling," Powless confirmed, adding that he will have family in attendance.
"I've heard a little bit about this pavé section in the race. Not really sure what it's going to look like when I get there, but hopefully it's hard enough to make some separations in the race because there is a bit less elevation gain than the previous course. Hopefully that pavé section will offer up some more excitement."
Cobblestones are something Powless embraces rather than fears, and he showed his versatility on the road at the 2022 Tour de France. Since then, he's achieved most of his goals with one-day European Classics, with a few more milestones left in France and in the US. He came close to putting on the yellow jersey at the Tour de France three years ago, finishing fourth on the cobbled stage 5 to Wallers-Arenberg.
"I’m still chasing a Tour to France win stage win, but that was one of the loftier goals I set for myself. The season's been great so far. Being a part of the Tour de France team when Ben [Healy] went into yellow was really special," Powless told Cyclingnews.
"And then for myself, being able to win my first cobbled classic at Dwars Door Vlaanderen was a dream come true and a goal I've been chasing for quite a while. The last two years, I realized it was a possibility, and I decided that that was going to be my goal as a professional cyclist, to win a cobbled classic or at least one of the main goals. I was able to achieve it this year, so that was incredibly special."
After the Maryland Cycling Classic, Powless plans to compete at the WorldTour races in Canada, Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Montréal, then travel to Italy for the fall Classics, foregoing a spot on Team USA for Road World Championships in Rwanda at the end of September.
"My wife is due with our second child a few weeks after Worlds, and I just didn't feel a trip to Africa was the wisest choice for me, given the travel time it would take to get there. I did get most of the vaccines that I needed if I was going to go, because I wanted to keep the option open. But with my wife’s pregnancy, the races in Canada and the Italian Classics, it was going to be a very tight schedule to make the long travel down to Africa."
