The road season is gradually coming to an end, so it's slowly time to look back on the cycling year 2024. In this year, cycling enthusiasts have seen incredible things, with unprecedented displays of power. The Vélo d'Or is ultimately awarded to the best cyclist of the year. The French l'Équipe, responsible for organizing this award, announced the ten nominees on Monday afternoon via X. IDLProCycling.com names them for you and also briefly takes you through their accomplishments of the year!
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike)
The very first nominee is Jonas Vingegaard. To say that 2024 was an eventful year for the Visma | Lease a Bike rider would be an understatement. The Dane crashed hard in April in the Tour of the Basque Country after he had claimed victories earlier in the spring in O Gran Camiño and the Tirreno-Adriatico. The two-time Tour winner even ended up in the ICU in Spain for several days, followed by a long recovery. Vingegaard was ready to make his comeback just in time for the Tour de France, where he impressively finished second at a respectable distance from winner Tadej Pogacar. In August, he wrapped up his season with an overall win in the Tour of Poland because he became a father for the second time. So, 2024 must have been an emotional roller coaster for Vingegaard, where he still managed to achieve remarkable things despite all the setbacks.
Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)
2024 was also an eventful year for Primoz Roglic. After eight years spending riding for the current Visma | Lease a Bike, he made the switch to the German BORA-hansgrohe. With that team, which is sponsored by Red Bull starting from this year's Tour de France, he finally had to make a bid for the overall win in the Tour de France. However, the Slovenian also hit the ground hard in the now-infamous crash in the Basque Country, which also partly disrupted his preparation. With two stage wins and the overall victory in the Dauphiné under his belt, Roglic seemed to be in good shape, but the Tour's string of bad luck wasn’t over for the Slovenian. He had to abandon the race after a crash in stage twelve, following which he set his sights on the Vuelta. He eventually won it for the fourth time, which meant 2024 was still a remarkable year for Roglic.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)
A victory in the Figueira Champions Classic and an overall win in the Volta ao Algarve: that’s how Evenepoel started his 2024 in Portugal. In Paris-Nice, he had to settle for second place overall despite a stage win in the final stage, as Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) claimed the overall victory. After that, Evenepoel headed to the Tour of the Basque Country. He too – as you probably already guessed – crashed in that big pileup but, like Roglic, he made his return in the Dauphiné. There, the Belgian won the time trial but could not contend for the overall win. In the Tour, Remco showed that he could regularly compete with the best, but in the end, he finished more than three minutes behind second-placed Vingegaard in the overall standings. With a podium finish in the Tour under his belt, he headed to Paris, where he impressively claimed the legendary double in the road race and time trial. After a short rest, his focus was then on the World Championships, where he won the time trial for the third consecutive year. With a fifth place in the World Championship road race and a second place in the Tour of Lombardy, Evenepoel concluded a very impressive 2024.
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)
Biniam Girmay is the first non-GC rider to be selected for the Vélo d'Or. The Eritrean racing for Intermarché-Wanty won the Surf Coast Classic in January, followed by a lackluster classics spring campaign. A seventh place at Gent-Wevelgem in February and March was his best result during that time. Girmay then traveled to the Giro, where he didn't finish the fourth stage due to a crash. He quickly got back on the bike and won the Circuit Franco-Belge in late May. After winning the Eritrean road race and time trial championships, he turned his attention to the Tour, where he won three stages and also secured the green jersey. In the fall races, he achieved some good finishes, including third place in the BEMER Cyclassics and second place in the GP de Québec.
Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates)
Marc Hirschi managed to win quite often in 2024, particularly for a non-sprinter, though not as much in the spring. The Swiss rider belonging to the strong UAE Team Emirates won the Faun Drôme Classic and finished a commendable second in the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. He also claimed the Czech Tour title, including a stage win. Hirschi did not participate in any grand tours this year, which allowed him to focus on a busy fall. In August and September, he won the Clasica San Sebastian, Bretagne Classic, GP Industria & Artigianato, Coppa Sabatini, and the Memorial Marco Pantani. He couldn’t continue this winning streak in the Tour of Luxembourg, but he claimed one last victory in October, winning the Coppa Agostoni. Nine victories for Hirschi, who ends his stint with the Emirati team in style, as he will ride for Tudor next year.
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Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Mathieu van der Poel didn’t have many race days this year, but the Alpecin-Deceuninck star was present at nearly all major races. Starting his 2024 campaign inh the rainbow jersey he won in Glasgow, his first race of the year was Milan-San Remo, where he helped his teammate Jasper Philipsen secure victory. He then won the E3 Saxo Classic, but two days later, he was beaten by Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) in Gent-Wevelgem. The Dutchman went on to win his main spring goals, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. A very impressive third place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège was his last race of the spring before he headed to the Tour. Although he rode around in the Tour peloton rather anonymously, he still helped his teammate Philipsen secure three stage wins. The Tour was supposed to be a preparation for the Olympics, but he finished only twelfth. In the fall, he won a stage in the Tour of Luxembourg and closed out the year by becoming the gravel world champion. Another year with two monuments for the Dutchman.
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
The absolute favorite for the Vélo d'Or is – of course – Tadej Pogacar. Who else could it be, really? The Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates won nearly every race he entered. In 2024, he was beaten only by three opponents: Jasper Philipsen in Milan-San Remo, Michael Matthews in the GP de Québec, and the Italian rain in the canceled Tre Valli Varesine. And as for his wins? Brace yourself... The Strade-Bianche, the Tour of Catalonia (with four stage wins), Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Giro d'Italia (with six stage wins), the Tour de France (with six stage wins), the GP de Montréal, the World Road Championships, the Giro dell'Emilia and the Tour of Lombardy. A year of truly unprecedented dominance, but the way in which he claimed all these victories was perhaps the most impressive. From an eighty-kilometer solo in order to win Strade-Bianche, to attacks from a hundred kilometers out to become world champion. For Pogacar, the year 2024 will go down in history as the year when the gap between him and his competitors seemed worlds apart.
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
Starting 2024 with a victory was also something Ben O'Connor accomplished. The Australian riding for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale won the Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia in February, followed by the UAE Tour, where he finished second, two seconds behind overall winner Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny). O'Connor then headed to Italy for two stage races, finishing fifth in the Tirreno and second in the Tour of the Alps. All of this was in preparation for the Giro, one of O'Connor's two major goals for the year. He finished fourth in yet another grand tour, far behind overall winner Pogacar. After a longer period of rest, he prepared for the second major goal of the year, the Vuelta, with the Olympic road race and Clasica San Sebastian. O'Connor won stage six and wore the red jersey, gaining a five-minute lead in the overall standings. His lead then gradually dwindled, but it was only after the nineteenth stage that Roglic really dethroned the Australian. In the final two stages, the 28-year-old held on bravely and eventually stood on the podium in Madrid as the second-place finisher. Moving to Jayco AlUla, he won gold in the Mixed Relay for his country at the World Championships and ended his cycling year with a silver medal in the road race.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Matteo Jorgenson’s year will go down as the one where the American frequently saved his team Visma | Lease a Bike. He won Paris-Nice in the spring, followed by a victory in Dwars door Vlaanderen, which was marred by a severe crash involving Wout van Aert. In preparation for the Tour, Jorgenson rode the Dauphiné, finishing second, eight seconds behind winner Roglic. In the Tour de France, Jorgenson worked for team leader Vingegaard but sought his own success in stage nineteen. However, Pogacar once again won, finishing 21 seconds ahead of Jorgenson. The now 25-year-old Killer Bee ultimately finished eighth overall. After a slightly disappointing fall season, Jorgenson’s tank was empty, ending his 2024 with two victories. They were impressive victories though, which also says a lot.
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
The tenth and final nominee for the Vélo d'Or is Belgian Tim Merlier. The Soudal Quick-Step sprinter crossed the finish line of our 2024 tally with sixteen wins to his name. These victories came early in the year, as Merlier added two stages to his name in his first race (the AlUlta Tour). In the subsequent UAE Tour, he claimed three more, then focused on the Belgian spring season. He won the Nokere Koerse and Scheldeprijs but was beaten by fellow countryman Philipsen in the Classic Brugge-De Panne. After a month-long break from racing, Merlier headed to the Giro, winning three stages. Add two more wins in the Baloise Belgium Tour, one in the Tour of Poland, the European Championships, the Championship of Flanders and the Gooikse Pijl, and you reach an impressive total of sixteen victories.
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