Neilson Powless powered to victory with a Tadej Pogacar inspired solo attack 42km before the finish of the 108th GranPiemonte presented by Crédit Agricole. With no more than twenty second lead to the group of chasers in the last twenty kilometres of racing, he made it a spectacular effort as he fended off the come-back of forty riders who combined forces behind him. The first Native American to race at the highest level of cycling, he became the first rider from the US to win the GranPiemonte.
The winner of the 108th GranPiemonte presented by Crédit Agricole, Neilson Powless, said: “I feel so emotional and proud of the season that I had with an injury in the Spring and the dedication of my family to help me to come to the level I had today. To win today, we had to use the right tactic. There are lots of moments in which you can win or lose a race, it makes cycling more exciting. Over the top of Passo della Colma, I knew I had good legs because I was able to follow Matej Mohoric. Our morning plan was to improvise! We had Marijn [van den Berg] in case of a sprint finish but he said it was difficult for him to survive on the climb, it left myself and Georg Steinhauser to follow the moves and go for the win. I hope for the top 10 finish at Il Lombardia on Saturday. Tadej [Pogacar] will probably explode the race with 100km to go. I’ll try my best to get another good result”.
Runner-up Corbin Strong said: “I was very motivated to come to these Italian races and get a win but we did all we could today and Neilson [Powless] had a really impressive ride. My team did everything so we can be really proud of what we did today even though it’s not the win we wanted. I’m not sure what more could have been done to catch Neilson. He deserves the win. Maybe we’ve been unfortunate that two riders committed to the chase had a crash with 20km to go. That could have made a difference. We expected the course to be as hard as it was. DSM split the bunch into pieces on the first climb. I was at the limit, hanging on at the back of the peloton. When I climb well, I’m often one of the fastest guys left.”
Third on the podium, Alex Aranburu said: “It’s been a nice race. We have climbed very fast. We were not many left. Neilson Powless took his chance. He was so strong that he made it to the finish, therefore my third place is a nice way to finish the season. I really thought we would have caught the escapee! I’ve tried to go and catch him myself, we also have combined forces with a few teams to bring him back. We started for winning. We were going well, even on this hard climb. We came with the intention to win with the national champion jersey. I’m happy with what I’ve done for my last race with Movistar”.
