The UCI have opened voting for its Fans’ Choice Awards, which allows fans to select their riders of the year across five categories in road cycling.
Awards will be presented to the five winners at the UCI’s annual gala, which will be held in Benidorm on Wednesday, December 9. The shortlists in each category can be found below, with each consisting of 10 names, five men and five women.
The nominees include Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who has three nominations in the Feat of the Year classification, Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) for his win at Il Lombardia, and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) for winning Milan-San Remo, though his fifth Tour de France win seems to have been missed.
Among the women, Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) has three nominations across the Young Rider, Domestique and Climber selections, while Vuelta Femenina winner Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD) was nominated in the Young and Climbers lists. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) is nominated only for winning stage 1 of the Tour de France, though her other 23 wins aren't mentioned.
World number one ranked rider Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) was nominated for her victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège but not the Tour de France or her incredible win in Montreal at the World Championships.
And, while Mathys Rondel's nomination in the Young Rider Performance of the Year category for his GC placings at Paris-Nice and the Tour of the Alps is correct, he is also mentioned as finishing 10th in the Giro d'Italia, when in fact he was 11th.
The UCI Gala is an annual event which celebrates the season and awards the best riders, teams and nations based on the World Rankings, with the fans’ awards a new addition, giving you a voice.
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"Riders write the story of every season, but it is among the fans, at the roadside and in front of their screens, that it truly resonates," UCI President David Lappartient said. "It was only natural to give them a voice. The rankings tell us who was strongest; the UCI Fans’ Choice Awards will tell us which moments meant the most to the public."
The awards ceremony will be held at the Centro Cultural de Benidorm and will be broadcast live on the UCI’s YouTube Channel.
Voting opened at 12:00 CET on Wednesday and closes on Tuesday, December 1 at 11:59 pm.
Categories and Nominees
Feat of the Year
Awarded to the most remarkable individual performance in a single race
Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) - Classica San Sebastián; Tour de France stage 15; World Championships Time Trial
Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d'Italia Women stage 6
Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) - Vuelta a España five stage wins
Lara Gillespie (UAE Team L'IMAD) UAE Tour Women; Omloop van het Hageland; Giro d'Italia Women
Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) - Omloop van het Hageland; Scheldeprijs; Veenendaal-Veenendaal; GP Mazda Schelkens; Baloise Ladies Tour stage; GP Lucien Van Impe
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) - Tour de France Femmes stage 6
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) - Giro d’Italia three stage wins; Classique du Mur de Grammont; ADAC Cyclassics; Tour of Guangxi
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) - Tour de France stage 7
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d'Italia stage 21
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) - Tour de France stage 17
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) - Tour de France Femmes stage 1.
Young Rider Performance of the Year
Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD) - Vuelta Femenina GC; Amstel Gold Race
Viktória Chladaňová (Visma-Lease a Bike) - World Championship Under 23 Road Race
Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) - Tour de France stage 2; white jersey
Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) - Giro d'Italia white jersey
Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d'Italia Women white jersey
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) - Tour de France third white jersey classification
Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) - Tour de France Femmes white jersey
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) - Tour de France Femmes polka-dot jersey
Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling) - Giro d’Italia 10th GC; Paris-Nice 8th GC; Tour of the Alps 5th GC
Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) - Giro d’Italia stage 2
Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) - Tour de France stage 13
Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) - Tour de France; World Championship Road Race
Climber of the Year
Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD) - Vuelta Femenina – general and climber classification
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) - Tour de France – polka dot jersey
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d’Italia – blue jersey
Felix Gal (Decathlon-CMA CGM) - Giro d’Italia 2nd GC; Vuelta a España 3rd GC
Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L'IMAD) - Tour de France Femmes 3rd GC
Enric Mas (Movistar) - Vuelta a España general classification
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) - Tour de France Femmes stage
Puck Pieterse (Fenix Premier Tech) - Tour de France Femmes climber classification
Petra Stiasny (Human Powered Health) - Vuelta Femenina stage 7
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) - Giro d’Italia general classification and 5 stages
Have your say
While the official winners won't be announced until next month, we're keen to hear who our Cyclingnews readers will be voting for this year.
Have your say across the five categories in our unofficial polls below, and be sure to let us know the reasons behind your picks in the comments below!
A recent addition to the Cyclingnews staff, Owen Rogers is an experienced journalist, working as a freelancer covering the sport for various magazines and websites for more than 10 years.
Initially concentrating mainly on the women's sport, he has covered hundreds of race days on the ground and interviewed some of the sport's biggest names.
Living near Cambridge in the UK, when he's not working you'll find him either riding his bike or playing drums.
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