Powless just 13 seconds from the USA’s first Tour de France lead since 2006

WALLERS FRANCE JULY 06 Neilson Powless of United States and Team EF Education Easypost leads The Breakaway during the 109th Tour de France 2022 Stage 5 a 157km stage from Lille to WallersArenberg TDF2022 WorldTour on July 06 2022 in Wallers France Photo by Tim de WaeleGetty Images
Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) works at the front of the breakaway on stage 5 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

For a few seconds at the end of a dramatic day of racing on the cobbles borrowed from Paris-Roubaix, it seemed Neilson Powless was about to become the first American to pull on the Tour de France yellow jersey since 2006.

For just a few seconds Powless missed out and the jersey stayed on Wout van Aert’s (Jumbo-Visma) shoulders but the winner of the 2021 Clasica San Sebastian again showed his multitude of talents and sheer class.

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.