Early Season US Rider Win Tally & Key Takeaways
Taking stock of the standout performances from up-and-coming US riders so far this season & what they mean for the bigger races to come
While I’ve been attempting to cover the major highlights from the early-season racing (Part 1 & 2), I have skipped over the majority of impressive performances from US riders, both for the sake of brevity and the simple fact that for the first few results, many of the top performances came from riders who have already proved themselves at major European races (Powless, Sheffield, Simmons, McNulty), and I didn’t see their wins are signs of anything we didn’t already know. However, with a short break in top-level Men’s racing, I wanted to circle back on the impressive winning rides from a few American riders and what it means for the season to come.
Prior to the season, I broke down the current state of US riders in the top level of the sport (UCI WorldTour), with the general thesis being that while their numbers are small (and decreasing), the performance level for those present is fairly high and that the future is bright due to a relatively high number of extremely talented young riders.
And just a few weeks into 2023, this analysis has proved to be correct. Quinn Simmons racked up an incredibly impressive win on stage 3 at the Vuelta a San Juan with a forceful final kilometer attack that teased great potential from the 21-year-old. Also, 26-year-old Neilson Powless has already racked up two wins, 50% of his entire career win total, just a month into the season due to a dominant solo win at GP La Marseillaise and a hard-fought one-second overall title at Etoile de Bessèges.
2023 Season Running American Win Total:
Quinn Simmons (1) - Vuelta a San Juan
Neilson Powless (2) - GP La Marseillaise & Etoile de Bessèges General Classification
Of course, these wins by themselves aren’t enough to declare ‘mission accomplished’ on making the US competitive across pro cycling again, and extrapolating too much from early-season results is always a fraught game to play.
Having said that, I do think the trend of riders coming into the season ‘too fit’ only to disappear when the important races roll around is in decline due to more sophisticated training techniques leading to riders who are at a higher level of fitness across the entire season.
Also, the manner in which they were won (pure world-class power) and the profile of the winners (consistently improving young riders with the talent to compete at the highest level) bode well for the coming season.
Outside of the aforementioned victories, there have also been a pair of near-misses that have stuck out to me from both Brandon McNulty and Magnus Sheffield.
Notable Runner-Ups:
Brandon McNulty (1) - Volta Valenciana
Magnus Sheffield (1) - Tour Down Under Prologue
These strong performances from the top three 2022 US PCS point scorers (Powless, McNulty, Sheffield), plus Simmons, show us that the top tier of American riders are continuing to improve and entering 2023 at a higher level than we’ve seen in the past.
US Rider 2023 Highlight Notebook & Key Takeaways
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