Powless hoping LottoNL-Jumbo can continue Utah success at Colorado Classic

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LottoNL-Jumbo will be without Tour of Utah winner Sepp Kuss at the Colorado Classic but the Dutch WorldTour team are hoping to continue their run of success with young riders, including the USA’s Neilson Powless.

With Kuss now focused on the Vuelta a España, Powless will be joined by Critérium du Dauphiné stage winner Koen Bouwman, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Daan Oliver, Maarten Wynants and stagiaire Jan Maas for the four days of racing in Colorado.

In Utah, Powless finished second to Kuss on stage 2 to Payson City, ended the race 13th overall and was third in the best young rider competition. He appears ready to step up at the Colorado Classic.

"We did everything we could to set Sep up for the win and it was an incredible result. We all rode like pros all week and showed how strong we can be. We hope to ride on the back of that enthusiasm in Colorado," Powless said in the pre-race press conference.

At 36, Wynants is the only rider over 25 in the LottoNL-Jumbo line-up. He is acting as the road captain and advisor to his younger teammates.

"We came into Utah with a pretty young team, Maarten was the only established rider. It’s been good to have him around to have insight and for him to guide the younger guys," Powless said.

The second edition of the 2018 Colorado Classic starts in Vail on Thursday with a 103.2km circuit race, followed on Friday by the 15.8km Vail Pass Time Trial. Saturday sees the peloton tackle a 161.9km test that traverses Lookout Mountain, Cragmont Drive and Indian Hills before the finish back in Denver. The final stage is a 114km circuit race in downtown Denver.

BMC Racing's Manuel Senni, who moved to Bardiani-CSF this year, won the inaugural edition in 2017 ahead of Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) and Alex Howes (Cannondale-Drapac).

LottoNL-Jumbo face competition from fellow WorldTour teams Trek-Segafredo, EF Education First-Drapac, and Mitchelton-Scott, plus most of the leading US teams, the Israel Cycling Academy, and a team from Rwanda.

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