Tadej Pogačar misses out on Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award for second year in a row

Tadej Pogačar has once again missed out on victory at the prestigious Laureus World Sport Awards.

The Slovenian racer was nominated for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award for the second year in a row, but missed out to Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz. The ceremony was held in Madrid on Monday.

After taking 20 wins in 2025, including the Tour de France, World Championships, and three Monuments, Pogačar could lay claim to the most dominant racing season since the days of Eddy Merckx.

He was nominated for the award, along with Alcaraz, pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, football player Ousmane Dembélé, MotoGP racer Marc Márquez, and tennis player Jannik Sinner. However, Alcaraz, who won the French Open and US Open in 2025, took home the trophy – the 13th tennis player to win the men's award.

Egan Bernal and Simon Yates were also nominated for an award at the ceremony. The pair were up for the Comeback of the Year award.

Last year, Bernal scored a stage win at the Vuelta a España, his first WorldTour triumph since suffering a career-threatening injury during a training crash in 2022. The now-retired Yates, meanwhile, won the Giro d'Italia with a penultimate-day solo ride to beat Isaac del Toro. The pair both missed out on the trophy, though, with golf player Rory McIlroy taking the win thanks to his triumph at the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam of winning golf's four major championships.

No road cyclist has won a Laureus award since Bernal won the Breakthrough of the Year award in 2020 following his Tour de France victory. However, Tom Pidcock won the 2025 Action Sportsperson of the Year award after taking mountain bike gold at the 2024 Olympics.

Lance Armstrong is cycling's only winner of the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award, winning in 2003, while no riders have won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award; Anna van der Breggen in 2021 was the most recent nominee.