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TdF Daily: Neilson Powless celebrates the Fourth of July in polka dots

Our American climber is saving his strength for the Pyrénées, where he will defend his lead in the King of the Mountains competition

July 4, 2023

Neilson Powless just about had time to stop for a barbecue as he traversed southwest France with the Tour peloton on America’s Independence Day.

Stage four of the Tour was always going to finish with a show of fireworks from the sprinters when it hit the Paul-Armagnac auto racing circuit in Nogaro. After three tough days in the Basque Country, and with two spectacular stages in the Pyrénées coming up, Neilson and his teammates enjoyed a bit of a holiday on the Fourth of July–if you can call cycling 181.8 kilometers a holiday. Today, Neilson and his teammates were tempted to join all of the polka-dot waving French fans who were cooking sausages and burgers by the roadside. But they stuck to Neversecond, kept their focus, and spun easy gears. Tomorrow, the real work will resume when the Tour de France hits the high mountains for the first time. Stage five will ascend three vast passes on its way from Pau to Laurens. First up is the Hors-catégorie Col du Soudet, followed by the Col d’Ichere and Col de Marie Blanque, where attacks are sure to fly. Neilson will have to score points on their summits to hold onto his polka-dot jersey. The stage win would be the greatest prize.

Read Neilson’s thoughts ahead of the Tour’s first mountain stage, and then hear from his teammates.

Neilson Powless

Today was just the day I needed. Luckily the sprinters’ teams wanted to keep the whole bunch together for pretty much the whole day. A few guys tried to get together and attack, but they chased them down. I could just sort of recover a little bit ahead of the Pyrénées because the next few days are going to be very, very hard. I hope to be in the breakaway. I think there are going to be a lot of riders fighting to be in the breakaway and fighting for the stage win. It is the first real mountain day and a lot of riders have lost time on GC so I think it will be a big fight in the morning for the breakway. If I’m there, I will go for the stage win.

Andrey Amador

Today was the best day ever at the Tour. It was easy for us. We could save some energy. It was cool to speak with others, talk to friends on other teams. Sometimes that is good for the head. Only for the sprinters was it a bad day—or a good day. Tomorrow will be really, really different. It is the first mountain stage, the first real mountain stage. We don’t know what will happen. Will a breakaway arrive to the finish? Or not? It’s strange because it is the first day in the mountains in the first week of the Tour. We will try to be in the breakaway and fight for the stage. We are strong. We have good climbers. We will try everything to win a stage—better, more than one.

Esteban Chaves

One hundred fifty five watts average. I’m fresh. It was fast at the end. I think we get one day like this in the Tour de France every three years, so if I can take it, I will take it. This means we will have really hard days coming up. For sure the bunch recovered a lot today, and tomorrow will be fireworks. One hundred percent.

Magnus Cort

Today was super easy for us. Not having a GC guy and no sprinter meant that we just had to sit in and follow. I have had some easy days in the past, but this was amongst the easiest in my career. There was plenty of time to chat with both teammates and friends from other teams.

James Shaw

Today was an easy day, but still; when it goes fast, it is so fast. It is actually ridiculous.

DS Tom Southam

I’ve got to be honest. When you have two other people in the car, asleep and just snoring loudly, you’ve got to keep focused on the road in front, and that makes it easier.

DS Charly Wegelius

It was a long one. I had a nap and I woke up and we had still only done 70 kilometers, so it was a rough one, but I did it for the team. It is going to be different music tomorrow.

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Tour de France
Jul. 01, 2023 – Jul. 23, 2023
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Andrey Amador

Andrey Amador brings experience and climbing prowess to our team. We rely on the strong Costa Rican at key moments of the hardest races and learn all that we can from him. Andrey draws on 14 years of WorldTour experience. He has won a stage of the Giro and worn that race’s leader’s jersey, but above all made his name as a skilled and dedicated teammate, who is always ready to get the hard work done–with a smile.

Andrey has finished 18 grand tours so far during his career and ridden for some of cycling’s great champions, including his close friend and fishing buddy Richard Carapaz.

Andrey and Richie have been teammates ever since they were amateurs. No matter how hard the races get, they can make each other laugh. Andrey is Richie’s right-hand man. He’ll keep him out of the wind and get him water bottles and ride on the front whenever it could turn the race to Richie’s advantage.

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Esteban Chaves

Esteban came to cycling through duathlon as a young teenager. His dad registered him for the race and lent him a bike. For Esteban, it was love at first ride. He bought a bike shortly thereafter and hasn’t looked back. Today, the Colombian is one of the strongest riders in the peloton. His racing victories include Il Lombardia, the Giro dell’Emilia, three Giro d’Italia stages, two Vuelta a España stages, and most recently a stage at the 2021 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

While his results are impressive, Esteban has overcome hardships in his career. As a 22-year-old, he had a crash that nearly ended his career before he even signed his first WorldTour contract. Then in 2018, he was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus and chronic sinusitis. Throughout it all, Esteban maintained his warrior spirit and his signature smile.

Riding is about more than racing and achieving results for the Colombian, who is now in his second season with our team. In 2016, he began FUN Chaves, an organization that uses bikes as tools to help children in Colombia realize their dreams. For him, his career as a professional cyclist is proof that dreams do come true and he hopes to inspire others to follow their passions.

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James Shaw

James loves the places that his bike has taken him, the people he has met because of cycling, and the life lessons he’s learned through the sport. But what does he love most about cycling? Racing.

While James has achieved strong results as a GC rider, especially in 2021 at the Tour of Slovenia and the Tour of Norway, his favorite races are the Ardennes Classics. He is also a keen student of cycling history and finds pride and motivation in thinking about the riders who have come before him. James finished his first grand tour at the 2022 Vuelta and is excited for more.

Through the year, he lives in England’s Peak District. When he is home, James resets by taking his dogs for long walks on the moors and riding with old clubmates. His racing and training schedule is very busy, but whenever he has time, James hitches a trailer to his bike and goes bike packing.

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Neilson Powless

When Neilson Powless started racing X-Terra triathlons with his sister back home in Northern California, he just wanted to spend time outside and rip around the trails near his house. His first love was mountain-biking. It was his best discipline in those off-road triathlons, and when he got to high-school, there were all sorts of chances for him to compete in California’s mountain-bike league. Soon, he was travelling with the US national team, racing junior world cups and championships against the world’s most talented mountain-bikers. Race in and race out, Neilson proved he was one of them.

Then he decided he wanted to have a go on the road.

Neilson has progressed steadily since he turned pro in 2018, thanks to his hard-work and diligent approach to training. In 2020, Neilson Powless became the first tribally recognized Native North American to race the Tour de France. The next year, our rising American star won Spain’s greatest one-day race, the Clásica San Sebastián, and finished fifth at the world championships in Belgium. Neilson was stellar in 2022. After a strong campaign in the Ardennes, he finished fourth on GC at the Tour de Suisse and lit up the Tour de France. He finished the year off with a victory at the Japan Cup.

The 2023 season was his best yet. Neilson won his first race of the year: the Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille. He then won the overall at Étoile de Bèsseges and stormed the Flemish classics, finishing third at Dwars door Vlaanderen and fifth at De Ronde in his debut campaign on the cobbles. At the Tour, he captured hearts with a stellar run in the King of the Mountains jersey.

Neilson lives in Nice, France with his wife and baby girl during the racing season. He enjoys exploring their new city and relaxing on the beach after hard rides through the Alps.

If he can find time in his schedule, Neilson would like to get back to his roots, and do some off-road alternative racing in 2024.

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