Neilson Powless's first part of the season lasted just three days. The twenty-nine-year-old American, after failing to complete the Tour de la Provence, underwent surgery on Monday to remove inflamed tissue in his knee and hopefully put an end once and for all to a problem that was preventing him from competing at the level he desired.

However, the consequence of this decision is that, having to stay sidelined for a period of between 8 and 12 weeks, he will be forced to give up the one-day races he had targeted in the coming months and focus directly on races in the second half of the season.

"It's extremely disappointing to have to miss the classics. I was excited to test myself in some new races this year. I had put together a program that I wanted to tackle to achieve good results, so I can only feel great disappointment" said the native of Eglin through the team's official channels.

"This spring will be a recovery period for me, I'll be able to watch my teammates on TV and spend more time with my family, and I hope to find extra motivation and energy for the second half of the season. It's not something that will keep me out of action for very long, but it's a situation we need to be cautious about. It will take a couple of months before I can target a race again, but it's good now to have a clear recovery plan" said Powless before explaining how serious his problem had become in recent weeks.

"Over the last two months, I had three knee scans and the first two showed that I was recovering in a really promising way, so much so that after the second one, I was able to return to training without pain and felt good enough to pin on a number again" clarified the EF Education Easypost rider, convinced by the positive signs to make his debut on February 13th at the Tour de la Provence.

"On the third day of racing, however, I felt pain again and was forced to stop. I then had another MRI that showed that the inflammation had never completely disappeared, even though I didn't feel it. Surgery would have given me the best chance of resolving the problem, so we decided to go under the knife. It was my first surgery of my career, but I was in good hands. Every decision was always made in agreement with the team's medical staff and now everyone is aligned on the rehabilitation path I'll need to follow and how to proceed from here on" concluded Powless, certainly determined to reclaim later the opportunities he won't be able to seize this spring.