Sepp Kuss and Neilson Powless celebrate their one-two finish during stage 2 at the Tour of Utah(Image credit: Pat Malach)
Neilson Powless (LottoNL-Jumbo) in the best young rider's jersey after stage 2 of the 2018 Tour of Utah(Image credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
Smiles all round for LottoNL-Jumbo's Sepp Kuss and Neilson Powless after the pair finished 1-2 on stage 2 of the 2018 Tour of Utah(Image credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
The top three on stage 2 of the 2018 Tour of Utah: winner Sepp Kuss with teammate Neilson Powless and Rally Cycling's Kyle Murphy(Image credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
Neilson Powless (LottoNL-Jumbo) celebrates taking second place on stage 2 of the 2018 Tour of Utah(Image credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
LottoNL-Jumbo will be without Tour of Utah winner Sepp Kuss at the Colorado Classic but the Dutch WorldTour team are hoping to continue their run of success with young riders, including the USA’s Neilson Powless.
With Kuss now focused on the Vuelta a España, Powless will be joined by Critérium du Dauphiné stage winner Koen Bouwman, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Daan Oliver, Maarten Wynants and stagiaire Jan Maas for the four days of racing in Colorado.
"We did everything we could to set Sep up for the win and it was an incredible result. We all rode like pros all week and showed how strong we can be. We hope to ride on the back of that enthusiasm in Colorado," Powless said in the pre-race press conference.
At 36, Wynants is the only rider over 25 in the LottoNL-Jumbo line-up. He is acting as the road captain and advisor to his younger teammates.
"We came into Utah with a pretty young team, Maarten was the only established rider. It’s been good to have him around to have insight and for him to guide the younger guys," Powless said.
The second edition of the 2018 Colorado Classic starts in Vail on Thursday with a 103.2km circuit race, followed on Friday by the 15.8km Vail Pass Time Trial. Saturday sees the peloton tackle a 161.9km test that traverses Lookout Mountain, Cragmont Drive and Indian Hills before the finish back in Denver. The final stage is a 114km circuit race in downtown Denver.
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BMC Racing's Manuel Senni, who moved to Bardiani-CSF this year, won the inaugural edition in 2017 ahead of Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) and Alex Howes (Cannondale-Drapac).
LottoNL-Jumbo face competition from fellow WorldTour teams Trek-Segafredo, EF Education First-Drapac, and Mitchelton-Scott, plus most of the leading US teams, the Israel Cycling Academy, and a team from Rwanda.
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