Neilson Powless misses entire spring season

We will not see Neilson Powless racing again this spring. The American rider from EF Education-EasyPost, last year’s winner of a memorable Dwars door Vlaanderen where he outpaced three men from Visma | Lease a Bike, underwent knee surgery on Monday. He will be out of action for eight to twelve weeks, according to his team.

Notably, earlier this week Powless announced via EF Education-EasyPost’s channels earlier this week that despite his knee issues, he was fully committed to the spring classics. However, that now turns out to be impossible. “It’s incredibly disappointing to miss the classics," says the 29-year-old rider. "I was looking forward to racing a few new events this year. I had a program with goals I wanted to chase and races where I aimed to perform well, so this is a big setback.”

"This spring will mainly be about recovery for me. I’ll be able to follow my teammates on TV and spend extra time with my family, and hopefully I’ll bring extra motivation and energy into the second half of the season. This isn’t something that will sideline me for long, but we need to approach it carefully. It will take a few months before I can plan a race again, but it’s good to have a clear recovery plan."

Withdrawal from Tour de la Provence
Powless struggled with knee inflammation throughout the winter. He had to postpone his season start but made his comeback at the Tour de la Provence. However, he abandoned on stage three due to pain complaints. After consulting with the team’s medical staff and knee specialists at AZ Herentals Hospital in Belgium, he decided to undergo surgery.

“Over the past two months, I had three knee scans and the first two showed promising recovery," Powless said. “After the second, I was able to train pain-free again, which was hopeful. I even felt strong enough to race again, but on the third day of the race, I felt pain again and had to stop. A new scan showed that the inflammation never fully disappeared, even though I didn’t feel it.”

"Surgery gave us the best chance of success, so we chose that path. It was my first operation ever, but I was in good hands with the doctors here. Together with the team’s medical staff, we have made joint decisions throughout, and everyone is aligned on the recovery and next steps.”