Mathieu van der Poel ended the five-year reign of Tom Dumoulin, taking out the Gerrit Schulte Trophy for best male Dutch pro cyclist of the year. The award is selected by current and former riders, journalists and internet voting. Van der Poel was not present at the gala Wednesday evening in Den Bosch, having attended the funeral of his grandfather Raymond Poulidor in France on Tuesday.
Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) claimed the Keetie van Oosten-Hage Trofee in honour of the best female rider of the year, while Lorena Wiebes (Parkhotel Valkenburg) brought home the Gerrie Knetemann Trophy for best young rider.
Van der Poel had an outstanding year, taking the cyclo-cross Dutch, European and World titles along with the Superprestige and DVV Trofee overall classifications and 32 total victories. On the mountain bike he won three World Cup cross country races and the European championship, but it was his road victories that garnered the most attention - he came out of the 'cross season to win the Dwars door Vlaanderen and Brabantse Pijl before taking his first WorldTour win at the Amstel Gold Race and then the overall Tour of Britain, ending the season 12th in the UCI World Rankings.
In the voting for rider of the year, Van der Poel beat out Il Lombardia winner Bauke Mollema, Tour de France podium finisher Steven Kruijswijk, Tour stage winner Mike Teunissen, track sprinter Harrie Lavreysen and BMX-racer Twan van Gendt.
Van Vleuten came off a knee injury in last year's World Championships to win Strade Bianche, and she hardly slowed down over the season. She was second in three classics - the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne - before winning the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.
Having established her one-day credentials, she went onto take a repeat win in the Giro d'Italia before winning the elite women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire after a 100km solo breakaway.
Wiebes had a similarly impressive road season, taking victories in the Nokere Koerse and second in Gent-Wevelgem and Driesdaage Brugge-De Panne before winning a stage in Tour de Yorkshire, sweeping all three stages and the overall in the Tour of Chongming Island, before topping Marianne Vos to win the European road title and the Dutch road title. She won the Prudential RideLondon and stages in the BeNe Tour, Ladies Tour of Norway and Boels Ladies Tour and was number 1 in the UCI World Ranking.
