Powless testing his limits at Tour of Utah

In 2016, Axeon Hagens Berman's 18-year-old Adrien Costa impressed with his second-place finish at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah ahead of Grand Tour veterans Andrew Talansky and Darwin Atapuma.

With Costa currently taking a break from cycling, all eyes turned to his 20-year-old teammate Neilson Powless, ninth overall in last year's Tour of California and the current US under-23 road race champion.

Powless has put together another successful season so far this year, winning stages at Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux and the Baby Giro, where he wore the maglia rosa for two days. He also won the one-day G.P. Palio del Recioto in Italy.

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Powless excelled at US nationals, finishing third in the pro time trial and second in the road race, then going to the U23 races, where he finished third again in the time trial and won a stars-and-stripes jersey in the road race.

It was only natural that expectations would start to grow around Powless' potential for more success in Utah, but the California native says he's not really feeling any pressure to live up to Costa's 2016 result.

"Adrien had an incredible ride last year," Powless said. "He's just an incredible rider in general. I think that Utah really fits his rider build. I think that I'm the type of rider who could do well here as well."

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