Neilson Powless to Miss All of Classics Season After Undergoing Surgery

Neilson Powless will miss the spring classics this season after undergoing successful knee surgery earlier this week to remove inflamed tissue, the American rider’s EF Education-EasyPost team announced on Wednesday.

Knee pain set back Powless’ winter training block, keeping him off the bike while he recovered. He had returned to riding pain-free earlier this year, but was forced out of the Tour de la Provence two weeks ago when the pain returned on stage 3.

After consulting with doctors and team medical staff, Powless opted for surgery to remove inflamed tissue, a decision which the team says gives him the best chance of returning to racing pain-free later this season.

Powless will be off the bike for eight to 12 weeks, according to the team’s head doctor, Jon Greenwell.

“It is extremely disappointing to be missing out on the classics,” Powless said in a team press release. “I was excited to try some new races this year. I had a plan of races I wanted to target and do well in, so this is a big disappointment.”

Powless had a breakout classics season in 2025 with a sensational one-versus-three victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen where he outwitted the formidable Visma-Lease a Bike squad, including Wout van Aert.

This season, Powless had set his sights on his Paris-Roubaix debut, with a goal of finishing in the top-10. He had also previously said he was aiming to race E3, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Amstel Gold, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

With his season now sidelined for two to three months, the next race plan is up in the air for Powless. “This is not something that’s going to take me out for a really long time, but it’s something that we will need to be cautious with,” he said. “It will be a couple of months before I can plan a race, but it’s nice to have a clear plan of recovery.”

“At least now we can say that the problem is solved and I can move forward with a clear path of recovery,” Powless said.