American cyclist Neilson Powless of team EF Education-EasyPost is writing a journal for throughout the 2022 Tour de France. Powless recently came within four seconds of the Tour鈥檚 coveted yellow jersey, and his latest entry鈥攚ritten after Thursday鈥檚 sixth stage鈥攄iscusses his close call.聽聽
Another stage chalked off and after a medium-length transfer I’ve made it to my hotel room for the night. So far the accommodation at the hasn’t been too bad actually although the Wi-Fi sucked last night. To be honest, other than the fact that I couldn鈥檛 speak to my family, a lack of connectivity was probably for the best.
It meant no social media and frankly less stress after what happened on stage 5. A lot has happened but if you want me to sum up the last two stages in a word it would have to be 鈥榬ollercoaster鈥. It鈥檚 been an incredible ride.
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Honestly, I don鈥檛 know how else to describe it. I keep having random rushes of emotions. At one moment I feel like I could break down and curl up into a ball and then the next moment I feel like I鈥檓 on top of the world and realizing that I鈥檓 achieving childhood dreams. My mind keeps going back and forth from those alternate states but when I鈥檓 in the race I feel like I鈥檓 still able to focus on the task at hand and racing with my teammates.
I can push it to the back of my mind when the flag drops but as soon as I get off my bike I flip between thinking 鈥榳ow I鈥檓 second at the Tour de France to 鈥榤an, I could have been in yellow鈥 and then to 鈥榖ut I鈥檓 just four seconds from yellow鈥. It鈥檚 so hard to describe. It鈥檚 a tug-of-war in my head.
I guess I also want to just set the record straight on a couple of things. Firstly there鈥檚 We were both racing for the team and I think the race was so chaotic with everyone operating with limited information. Bettiol and I are pretty good friends and we鈥檇 never intentionally race against each other. He just showed again today on stage 6 how much of an incredible teammate he is. He was always putting his nose in the wind for me and always yelling out for me. He was an amazing teammate today. I鈥檝e never doubted him.
Today we threw everything at it and tried to take the jersey but at the end of the day I came up against Tadej Pogacar, and the dude is the best cyclist in the world. He鈥檚 an incredible cyclist and it鈥檚 unfortunate that I couldn鈥檛 take yellow. I have no regrets and the team put all their effort into it for me. I was proud of them and we鈥檙e still second in the Tour de France.
Behind the scenes the directors are just telling me to stay focused. They鈥檝e realized that I鈥檓 a very practical person, so I don鈥檛 dwell on the past much. I鈥檝e learned my lesson in previous races to just trust my body and keep my emotions in check because the differences now between getting dropped and winning all come down to split second decisions that you make throughout the day. All they can do is keep me calm and relaxed because I can get overexcited.
And looking at the overall picture, if you鈥檇 said to me during the Tour de Suisse, when there was COVID-19 and all that uncertainty, that I鈥檇 be second to Pogacar at the Tour after six stages I鈥檇 have asked you who鈥檇 crashed out. So far, as a team, we鈥檝e made it pretty far and I just like to race my bike. I enjoy tactics and thinking on my feet and that鈥檚 what this race has been about for the last five days. Now all I have to do is trust my body that I鈥檝e trained well enough for the mountains.
Looking ahead, my job is pretty simple. I just need to conserve my energy as much as possible and then essentially race with the favorites. To be honest, that feels like a pretty big privilege. If that plan changes in the coming days, that鈥檚 fine. I鈥檒l adapt but I鈥檓 going to take pride in racing with the top riders.