At the end of a dramatic day of borrowed cobblestones in Paris-Roubaix, it looked as if Nielson Powles would become the first American to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France since 2006.

For mere seconds, Powless missed and the jersey stayed on the shoulders of Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), but the 2021 Clasica San Sebastian winner once again showed his versatility and class.

The EF Education-Easy Post team enjoyed a brilliant race at the front of the breakaway group as confusion and crashes reigned at the back.

Powles and teammate Magnus Cote gave it their all. They held off the peloton and also stopped the chase by Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jasper Steiven (Trek-Segafredo), but the last kilometer brought a moment of disappointment for the 25-year-old American.

He attacked for the stage win but was caught up, finishing in fourth place, four seconds behind stage winner Simon Clark (Israel Premier Tech).

From across the finish line, Powles watched the clock tick by, second by second, along with a crowd of team staff and media.

"It's within seconds. No one knows for sure. If it's not yellow, it's a second or two off yellow," he suggested.

"You can't imagine that kind of emotion until it happens. You don't know. I can't really believe it until it happens. Right now I'm just assuming it's not going to happen so I don't disappoint myself."

Unfortunately, hope turned to disappointment when the clock stopped a minute after Powles scored. He started the stage 1:13 ahead of Wout Van Art, so the Belgian kept the yellow by 13 seconds.

Instead of becoming the first American in yellow since Floyd Landis in 2006, Powles came close. But he and EF Education-Easy Post have few regrets about taking on this race.

"Even though I missed the yellow, I'm very, very happy. I achieved my goal of taking advantage of the chaos to get into the breakaway, and I was able to move up in the GC as well. After the emotion of loving the yellow had passed, Paules calmly explained.

"I thought the pack would catch me in the last 10km, but in the end I was able to get away.

"If I had stayed steady all the way to the finish, if we had all finished together and been on the line, I would have definitely gotten the yellow, but with two kilometers to go, the other three guys started running and I didn't want to work anymore.

"Eventually I found the right time to attack with 1km to go. But Boasson-Hagen seemed to be aware of the yellow, too, and all he wanted to do was to push me over. But I think Boasson-Hagen was also aware of the yellow.

At the end of the cobbled stage, Powles was in second place overall, 13 seconds behind Van Aert. Boasson-Hagen was third, 14 seconds behind, and Pogachar was fourth, 19 seconds behind.

Powles came very close to getting the yellow, but that doesn't mean it won't happen in Thursday's uphill finish in Longwy. He is closer than ever.