Jeremy Powers (born June 29, 1983) is an American former professional racing cyclist, who has achieved over 90 UCI victories (the most wins by an American male cyclo-cross rider), four USA Cyclocross national championships, and the 2015 Pan American Championship during his career. He was a presenter for Global Cycling Network before joining WHOOP.
Since rising to the top of the sport, Powers has been involved in various media, developmental, and educational projects aimed at growing the popularity of cyclo-cross in the United States through the JAM Fund, his non-profit organization, Behind THE Barriers video production company, cyclocross camps, instructional DVDs, and he has also collaborated on several cyclo-cross books including Skills Drills and Bellyaches and Mud Snow and Cyclocross.
Born in Niantic, Connecticut, Powers' love of cycling was apparent from an early age as he loved to tear around the house on his BMX bike, and it wasn't long before he started turning heads at local mountain bike races. He soon found his way to the Team Devo junior mountain bike program and, with their support, he won his first major race in 2000, the Junior World Cup in Napa Valley, California. Powers was introduced to cyclo-cross early in his cycling career as a way to stay fit at the end of the mountain bike season. It was the only time of the year when roadies and mountain bikers would converge in one place, and test each other's skills and fitness. In his native New England, cyclo-cross has been a regular part of each season for decades, and Powers excelled at the short, fast, technical races. Powers discovered that the frenetic pace and camaraderie of cyclo-cross suited his high energy and outgoing personality.
Powers earned a reputation as a strong rider, and success in New England earned him an invite to the junior race at the 2001 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in the Czech Republic. In his first international cyclo-cross race, Powers finished in 17th place. Encouraged by several friends and his coach Adam Myerson, Powers moved to Massachusetts, and changed his focus to road racing; however, Powers achieved one of his most significant victories very early in his career, when he won the 2001 Mountain Bike World Cup Cross Country event in the Junior division in Napa Valley, California.
While attending classes at Westfield State University, Powers tackled road racing, moving from a Category 5 to a Category 1 racer in a few short months, and closed out his road-racing season by signing a contract with Jelly Belly–Aramark for the 2004 season. Powers continued to race competitively in the Junior and Senior divisions of mountain biking, and was also competing in cyclo-cross in New England with the Northampton Cycling Club.
Powers would go on to race with Jelly Belly–Aramark at the biggest races in the U.S including the Tour of Georgia, Tour of California, Tour of Colorado, Tour of Missouri and many others. Despite his growing success on the road, every fall he would return to his true passion, cyclo-cross. Following his move to Jelly Belly in 2004, Powers made the decision to race an entire cyclocross campaign in Europe. In the 2004 season, his last as an under-23 rider, Powers returned briefly to the United States for the national championships, where he earned a silver medal. Powers returned to Europe to race full-time in 2005, his first year as an elite, again returning to the America to race the national championships. In 2006, Powers returned to full-time racing in the United States. Powers' full-time racing in Europe had prepared him well for racing in America, and he started to achieve good results in American competitions. Powers had podiums at two US Gran Prix of Cyclocross events, the Xilinx Cup and the Stumptown Cup. Powers also had some good results in his home region of New England, finishing on three podiums and finishing 4th in the Verge New England Cyclocross Championship Series.
A pair of top five time trial results in the 2006 Vuelta de Bisbee propelled him to a sixth place overall finish. Powers rode to prominence on the final stage of the 2008 Tour of Missouri, making half of the day's breakaway that was narrowly captured at the end of the stage. In September 2010, Powers won his first career stage race, winning Vermont's Green Mountain Stage Race by over two minutes ahead of UnitedHealthcare–Maxxis's Tim Johnson, Powers' Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com teammate, and Trek–Livestrong's Gavin Mannion. Powers had a very successful 2011 road season with the Jelly Belly–Kenda team, participating in both of the United States' major tours – the Amgen Tour of California and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. At the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Powers got into the day's main break in stage 2, eventually won by George Hincapie.
In 2007 Stu Thorne signed Powers to his Cyclocrossworld.com team, one of the first professional cyclo-cross teams in the U.S, joining Canadian Champion Lyne Bessette on the team. The support enabled Powers to tackle the U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross with renewed fervor, and he won his first major event, the Derby City Cup in Louisville, Kentucky that fall. Powers also won three Verge NECCS events.
2008 was Powers' first year with the Cannondale prepared by Cyclocrossworld.com team, and his first year teamed up with Tim Johnson. While Powers missed out on wins in the USGP series, he did stand on the podium at four of their events, and won the first race of the inaugural North American Cyclocross Trophy Series – Star Crossed in Redmond, Washington. Powers won six races in 2008, including his first back-to-back-to-back wins at the UCI3 Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Powers' career was truly in the ascendancy in 2009, his second year with the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com program. Powers accounted for nine of the team's 22 UCI victories in the 2009 cyclocross season, winning the first and last stops in the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series – the Planet Bike Cup in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and the Stanley Portland Cup in Portland, Oregon. Powers finished up the season ranked second in the North American Cyclocross Trophy standings, behind teammate Tim Johnson, after winning day two of the Toronto International Cyclocross and finishing on the podium at a further seven races. Thanks to his consistency and some big wins, Powers finished up the 2009 season as the number 11 ranked rider on USA Cycling's Cyclocross Rankings.
Powers' 2010 cyclo-cross season was full of even more firsts. Powers continued his career progression, winning 10 UCI races in the United States, and secured victories in both the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross series and the North American Cyclocross Trophy Series, the first time this had ever happened. In the NACT series, Powers won four events, including a wire-to-wire victory at the first day of the Gran Prix of Gloucester to take home his first elite series title. In the USGP, Powers won the series, his first victory in the USGP at any level. Powers trailed Johnson by 16 points entering the series' final weekend in Portland, Oregon, but pulled even with his teammate following his win on the first day of the Stanley Portland Cup. With the title on the line, Powers proceeded to outsprint Johnson on the second day to win his first series title.
At the United States National Cyclo-cross Championships, Powers was part of the leading duo, when he was the victim of an untimely crash that saw him drop from the race lead to his eventual finishing spot of third. Despite the disappointment, Powers rebounded to finish 16th at the 2011 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in St. Wendel in January. Powers again finished the season ranked number 1 on the USA Cycling Cyclocross Rankings and finished 15th on the season's final UCI rankings.
2011 was Powers' first season with the Rapha–Focus professional cyclocross team. Powers joined Chris Jones, Zach McDonald and, later, Julie Krasniak to create one of the most successful teams of the season in American cyclo-cross. The biggest of Powers' 11 UCI wins was his first United States National Cyclo-cross Championships title, which he won by 17 seconds over former national Champion Ryan Trebon.