Neilson Powless 🇺🇸
Rider Type: Climber / Time Trialist - Age: 26 - Weight/Height: 36.61 kg/m
The Jumbo effect, the gigantic performance bump riders gain once they join Jumbo from another team, must just have been delayed in affecting Powless. Now three years on from Jumbo and on Education First (EF), Powless is having a breakout year.
Team
EF Education First has been bucking the trend of their underdog status this year, and Powless is helping them do that. Signed through until 2024, Powless will seemingly pull this team easily through a potential UCI relegation given his recent performances.
Alongside Powless the team is relatively strong, with names like Cort, Carapaz, Bettiol, Urán, and Healy. Honestly the list is long and we shouldn't be thinking of EF as underdogs anymore. If you haven't given their team's podcast a listen, you really should. EF is hyper focused on marginal gains and improvements they can make for their riders
Strengths
Powless has shown to be incredibly strong at one day classics and above average at the general classification (GC) battle for smaller multi-day races. And yes, for the bettors out there, he can finish 1/2/3 and is not just a consistent top 10 rider in those multi day events, so our each way bets will pay off.
Powless' sprint is decent, which for a potential GC rider means a lot. It's not better than Vlasov's but he did beat Fulsang and Thomas in a bunch sprint on Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse which is nothing to look down on. Powless was pretty durned close to Vlasov too.
When to Bet?
Easier multi-day stage races without all of the big name teams being there (think UAE, Jumbo and INEOS) and one day classics. A few stages of grand tours are definitely plausible when the GC battle isn't in play.
Time trials should also prove to be good value. Powless isn't under 22 (🙃 see our Vauqelin or Leonard preview for our rationale there) but EF has consistently proven strong during time trials this year.
An exciting rider to follow nonetheless, and if Powless' rate of improvement continues to increase, alongside EF's increasingly strong team, large GC multi-day races are not out of the realm of possibility down the road.
