Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) shattered Wout Van Aert’s and Visma-Lease a Bike’s dream scenario of a team victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen, beating Van Aert, Tiesj Benoot and Matteo Jorgenson in a four-rider sprint.
The quartet escaped with 75km to race, with Visma-Lease a Bike seemingly assured to repeat the historic podium sweeps of teams like Mapei and QuickStep at Paris-Roubaix. Instead, Powless was like Ian Stannard when he defeated a trio of QuickStep riders to win the 2015 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Powless turned an almost sure defeat into an emotional victory by beating Van Aert in the sprint. Van Aert could only drop his head in defeat as he saw victory escape him and his team, with Benoot third and Jorgenson fourth.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won the sprint for fifth place at 45 seconds, after unsuccessfully trying to chase the attack down.
“I really can’t believe it, “Powless said in disbelief after shouting and hugging teammates and staff at the finish line.
“I felt really strong today but I didn’t think I had any chance to win from that group. I thought I was riding for second place. I just can’t believe it, I’m so happy.
“It’s been a rough spring for me so far, but today I’m so happy to be back where I know I can be.”
Powless has won the Clasica San Sebastian and other one-day races but this was special and gives him huge confidence for the Tour of Flanders.
“This is the biggest win of my life,” he said.
“I hope I can fight for the win [on Sunday], at least fight for the podium. In these races, you need a bit of luck, but you also need confidence, so I definitely gained one of those today.”
Powless opted to ride with Van Aert, Benoot and Jorgenson in the attack, knowing he always had a chance in the sprint.
“It was a constant inner struggle, even for my director in the car, he was going back and forth on whether or not I should ride because we had quite a few numbers behind,” Powless explained.
“I felt really good. I felt really solid on the cobbles, so I didn’t want to sprint from a bigger group. It was a rock and a hard place but I’m proud of the way I rode.”
Powless rode an intelligent sprint.
“I thought Wout what was going to be the strongest in the sprint, they were really betting on him but I never thought in a million years I would beat him in a sprint, in a race like this,” he said.
“I came in with a little more speed in the final corner and I was three or four kilometres an hour faster than Wout when he started this sprint. I just went all the way to the line and I was able to carry the speed quite well. There’s not a lot of space between that last corner and the finish line so I just had to start my sprints immediately and pray.”
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