Piccolo sweeps up for second place(Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)
Celebrations for EF(Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)
The podium finishers(Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)
Neilson Powless soloed to victory at the Japan Cup, with teammate Andrea Piccolo following up to make it a 1-2 for EF Education-EasyPost.
Powless attacked from a select group of favourites towards the end of the penultimate lap of the hilly Utsunomiya City circuit and rode just over 10km alone to the line.
After the last of 14 ascents of the Kogashiyama climb, Piccolo, having first played the part of disruptor, then attacked from the fraying group on the run-in to double up for EF.
Australian Ben Dyball (Team Ukyo) claimed the final spot on the podium just behind, edging out Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain Victorious).
"I think a tough race suited us well," said Powless. "We have riders with really good depth. We came here with some strong one-day riders.
"James Shaw is a really strong one-day rider. He and Andrea Piccolo showed their strength today. First and second is a perfect race for us."
EF Education-EasyPost had those three riders in contention as the race approached what would be a critical penultimate ascent of Kogashiyama, the centrepiece of the 10.3km circuit. The climb, which dragged up for a kilometre from the start/finish line then kicked up steeply for a further kilometre to the summit, would be summited 14 times as the total route reached 144.2km.
With 15 riders remaining after an open and aggressive race, Powless did the forcing on the penultimate ascent, tearing a group of five clear. That became eight after the descent, but then things became tactical and attacking on the rolling run-in.
After following a move from Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Soudal), Powless hit out on a false flat as the group split behind. He was away, and went through to take the bell with a lead of around 10 seconds heading onto the final lap.
Powless might light work of the final ascent of Kogashiyama, but still his lead was slim, with only several seconds over a trio of Pernsteiner, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and his own teammate, Piccolo, who accelerated over the top.
On the descent, Powless stayed away, while Dyball and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) came back to the chasing trio. Piccolo sat in the wheels and disrupted the chase, before sensing it was safe to reach out and attack his rivals on a nasty uphill drag.
As Powless raised his arms beyond the line to cap his solo victory, Piccolo had time to sit up and point to the team logo on his chest as he crossed the line for second place ahead of Dyball and Pernsteiner.
For Powless, it was the first win of the season and the second of his career after his triumph at the Clásica San Sebastián last year.
"I made a lot of progress this year but I was always missing a win," said the 26-year-old. "I was really happy with the way I developed and the improvements I made, but as a bike rider, you really just want to win a bike race. So I'm just so happy that I could do it in Japan, at the last race of the year."
Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.
