Neilson Powless fully targets Flemish classics after knee injury

Neilson Powless has now completed his first race kilometers of 2026. The American rode the Tour de La Provence on French soil earlier this month. The reason he hasn’t raced much yet this season is due to an annoying injury, which disrupted his preparation. However, this doesn’t make him any less ambitious for the coming months.

“I decided to take a longer break during the winter months because of the birth of our second child,” Powless explains on the website of his team EF Education-EasyPost. “Our son, Remy, was born in October. So, I rested for five or six weeks, but towards the end of that period I started experiencing knee pain. It turned out to be tendinitis, which forced me to stop my training.”

“It took a very long time to heal. I didn’t need surgery, but the injury was in a difficult spot. I even started feeling pain while walking, so it was hard to recover. [...] I have never had to rehabilitate from an injury for so long. I’ve had mild cases of tendinitis before, but this was the longest period in my life that I couldn’t train. That is pretty crazy.”

“But now everything feels good again. It’s better to get injured in November or December than around June or July. The consequence is that I’m targeting races later in the season now.”

Powless is referring to his beloved spring classics. After an Italian race block – including the Trofeo Laigueglia, Strade Bianche, Milan-Turin, and Milan-San Remo – the 29-year-old all-rounder hopes to shine “in the Flemish classics through to the Ardennes.” “I really hope to be in top form by then and be able to compete for wins. Everything before that is a bonus, but the expectation is that I won’t peak until the Belgian classics.”