The goal for Neilson Powless at the Tour de France starting Saturday is simple: win a stage.

He’s certainly capable. So are the other five Americans in the field, and collectively they represent perhaps the strongest contingent of U.S. riders in cycling’s most famous race since the drug-fueled days of Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer.

There is Sepp Kuss, the climbing extraordinaire from the Jumbo-Visma squad, who ended a 10-year drought for Americans with a stage win last year and who will try to usher Jonas Vingegaard to back-to-back yellow jerseys; Matteo Jorgenson, who featured in several breakaways a year ago and nearly won a stage himself; new U.S. road race champ Quinn Simmons; Kevin Vermaerke, whose own debut last year was waylaid by a broken collarbone; and Lawson Craddock, back for the first time since 2018.

Then there is Powless, the 26-year-old from Florida and the first rider of Native American ancestry to race in the Tour, and who already has won two lower level races this year while performing well in the spring classics.

“I think the prep that I have done has brought me to the right level of fitness at exactly the right time,” said Powless, who will also be charged with protecting EF Education–EasyPost’s overall contenders, Richard Carapaz and Rigoberto Urán.

“If I could win a stage, that would be incredible. That would be my Tour made,” Powless said. “But if we have Richie or Rigo up in GC and we can get someone on the podium, that would be incredible as well. I’m going to have to be pretty fluid with it, with what my goals are going to be, because depending on what position we are going to be in with the team, it is going to change. If we have someone going for GC, I could have a really satisfying Tour helping to get them on the podium.”

The six American riders in the Tour is one fewer than a year ago but otherwise the most since 2014, and represents a resurgence in U.S. road racing. Magnus Sheffield, the 21-year-old phenom for Ineos Grenadiers, nearly made its Tour lineup this year, and Joe Dombrowski and Brandon McNulty missed out on the start line largely because they already raced in the Giro d’Italia.

Incidentally, the 25-year-old McNulty won a stage in the Italian grand tour to confirm his status as an up-and-coming star.

While each of the six Americans could claim a stage win — the Tour begins Saturday with a mountainous stage leaving Bilboa, Spain — the strength of the contingent might not be reflected by their own ambitions as much as their expectations.

Or rather, the expectations placed on them.

Kuss is considered the top lieutenant for Vingegaard, and will be responsible for helping the reigning Tour winner fend off the attacks of Tadej Pogačar and other contenders. On any other team, Kuss would be a threat to win the toughest of stages himself, but he could be left to sacrifice himself for the team’s greater good.

Vermaerke is in a similar situation for Team DSM, where he will try to help Romain Bardet in the mountains. Craddock’s primary job will be to protect Jayco-AlUla’s Simon Yates and Dylan Groenewegen ahead of the sprint finishes.

“These kind of guys you need in a three-week tour,” Jayco-AlUla director Matthew Hayman said. “Very handy on all fronts.”

Even if they might not necessarily be at the front of the race.

There hasn’t been a true American contender for the overall win since Tejay van Garderen, who twice finished in the top five and wore the white jersey as the Tour’s top young rider. But that doesn’t mean U.S. riders are an afterthought heading into the 110th edition, given how much each of the team’s ambitions are riding on their shoulders.

And should one of those riders with overall hopes stumble? Then all bets are off.

“Powless, he rode more kilometers than anyone in the breaks last year I think, and we hope he takes the next step this year,” admitted EF Education–EasyPost chief executive Jonathan Vaughters said. “On paper, this is a great team. I’m excited to see how the race takes shape and how the whole team, riders and staff, come together to meet the challenge of the Tour.”

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports