Candidates for 2024 Velo d'Or revealed: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel, Lotte Kopecky and more!
Cycling
Every year the Velo d'Or is awarded to some of the best cyclists on the planet for that specific year and at the end of October we will learn who some of the most prestigious journalists selected for this award. We have got the very best in the business from both the men's and women's side.
The men's vote has very little doubt on the winner. It is believed that pretty much unanimously Tadej Pogacar will receive maximum votes after winning two monuments, two Grand Tours, the World title, over two dozen World Tour races and scored over double the UCI points of his closest rival Remco Evenepoel. Mathieu van der Poel, Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and all other big hitters of the season will be eligible for voting.
Contenders for men's Velo d'Or:
Jonas Vingegaard
Primoz Roglic
Remco Evenepoel
Biniam Girmay
Marc Hirschi
Mathieu van der Poel
Tadej Pogacar
Ben O'Connor
Matteo Jorgenson
Tim Merlier
In the women's side we do expect a more open battle featuring World Champion Lotte Kopecky; Giro Donne winner Elisa Longo Borghini; Vuelta winner Demi Vollering; Tour de France Femmes winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma; Dominating sprinter Lorena Wiebes; Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner and time-trial Olympic and World champion Grace Brown.
Contenders for women's Velo d'Or:
Demi Vollering
Lorena Wiebes
Pauliena Rooijakkers
Grace Brown
Evita Muzic
Lotte Kopecky
Katarzyna Niewiadoma
Marianne Vos
Kristen Faulkner
Elisa Longo Borghini
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If the men's award is based purely on performance then it is a no contest. But if some consideration is given to the cyclist who has influenced the largest number of people to either take up the sport or become fans through his historic and unprecedented achievements, then I would argue that Biniam Girmay has a fair shout.
Last year we had someone win two monuments and the road worlds and the CX worlds. Then we had the Tour winner win the award. By those rules it is irrelevant what else Pogacar did this year. He deserves the award. Sure, that’s silly, but so was last year’s decision.
Which goes to show 2 things, the Tour is always overweighted and CX underweighted. Cycling fans are not really cycling fans, they only like the parts they like. It’s like saying you’re a tennis fan and only considering mixed doubles or lawn or being an athletics fan but only for the 100m at the Olympics.
Man, CX is a serious thing in exactly 2 countries in the world, if Wout and MvdP didn't ride it then nobody would give a f about it. And since you mentioned tennis, it's like talking about ATP 250 among GS tournaments, it's laughable
Let's not be so simplistic. Jonas also won Basque and Dauphine, very convincingly, and finished 2nd in the Vuelta, which he could also probably win if it wasn't for team decision And please don't mention CX worlds, if Wout and MvdP didn't ride CX nobody would give a f. That sport is taken seriously in exactly 2 countries Btw, I'm definitely not a Jonas fan
We all know that there are no nominations necessary this year among men, we all know who will win. But that Philipsen isn't nominated is still a massive joke
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- You are completely wrongvappaxbipmv05-04-2025
- Tadej has a little more chance. It will be an exciting race and the most important thing is that no one gets hurt.
maria2024202405-04-2025 - Whatever happens tomorrow... it'll be a hell of a raceslappers6605-04-2025
- Exactly Tadej, the cancer of modern society. Full of good-for-nothing people who gain visibility and importance on social media mocking, humiliating (and worse things) to earn money. But it's the follower's fault, no followers, no "influencers".maria2024202405-04-2025
- Great commentCaralladas05-04-2025
- i’m such a sucker for those group-hug, happy ending moments between competitors, largely because it’s so WASN’T that way in my younger, stronger days. (on that note, i have this hope that somewhere down the road, maybe fifteen or twenty years, a middle aged wout and mathieu will go for a pleasure ride together in flanders, and reminisce about the days when they were the young, strong monsters that stalked the cobbles.)OCexile05-04-2025
- Just like Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Ronde van Vlaanderen was/is NOT on MAX. Get your facts straight.Ben04-04-2025
- You might bounce more for the same power, but not the same speed. Sending 20 kgs over a jump at 20 kph will fly just as far as 10 kgs at the same speed. Again, Galileo demonstrated this.acem8204-04-2025
- So, you're saying that doing a bunch of small hops on a bike is easier if you're heavier? Why do people buy lighter bikes, then? Why do they generally feel better and faster? An appeal to "rhythm" is not helpful either, as the right "rhythm" might be on the lighter or heavier side of things, and as it varies, it's likely a wash either way. Then we are left with the physics truth that it takes less power to lift lighter things than heavier things.acem8204-04-2025
- No, weight doesn't affect the ability to go into the wind at all. It's all CdA vs power at that point. For example, it's "obvious" that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter one. But, absent wind resistance, it's not true (Galileo demonstrated this). An appeal to "obviousness" doesn't matter when the physics is clear. And yes, you have to be able to hold everything else constant, or you can't determine anything! So, imagine a 300 watt rider at 80 kgs with a CdA of 2.0, then imagine that same rider at 70 kgs with a CdA of 2.0. (Assume ideal tire pressure for both, same bike.) Which one can ride over a bumpy road fastest? The lighter one, as he doesn't have to lift as much. That's also why when they test bikes on 5 star cobbled sectors, the MTB goes faster than even a cobble-build road bike. Even though rolling resistance is higher on a flat road, and the CdA is junk, it smooths out the cobbles, allowing the person to not lift as much as they otherwise would.acem8204-04-2025