CyclingUpToDate Awards: Tadej Pogacar voted Men’s Rider of the Year after commanding 2025 - Isaac del Toro & Mads Pedersen complete podium

There was no contest. In a season that felt like a highlight reel from start to finish, Tadej Pogacar has been voted CyclingUpToDate’s Men’s Rider of the Year for 2025, taking a staggering 630 of 851 votes (74%) in the public poll.

The result reflects the scale of his dominance across every corner of the calendar — from a record-equalling fourth Tour de France title to back-to-back world road race victories and a sweep of the sport’s biggest Classics. It was a season where Pogacar didn’t just win; he defined what winning looked like.

Pogacar’s 2025 campaign was the complete package. He retained the rainbow jersey in Kigali with an audacious long-range solo, then added the European title a week later — an unprecedented double that showcased both aggression and composure. He conquered three Monuments (Flanders, Liege and Lombardia), claimed stage-race victories across continents, and anchored UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s record-breaking year with an authority few riders in history have ever matched.

His Tour de France triumph — achieved through control rather than chaos — was perhaps the most mature of his four. Gone were the desperate long-shots of earlier years; in their place, tactical restraint and total mastery. By October, the only real debate left was where to place this season in the all-time hierarchy.

Behind Pogacar, the rest of the field reflected the evolving balance of power within men’s cycling. Isaac del Toro, his 21-year-old UAE team-mate and Giro dItalia runner-up, finished second in the vote with 70 ballots (8%), a nod to his extraordinary breakthrough campaign. Mads Pedersen took third on 47 votes (6%) after a relentlessly productive season of 14 wins and two Grand Tour points jerseys, underlining his reputation as the peloton’s most complete finisher.

Elsewhere, Jonas Vingegaard (28 votes) and Mathieu van der Poel (22) earned recognition for major-race brilliance, while Joao Almeida, Simon Yates, Tom Pidcock and Remco Evenepoel each collected modest tallies for consistent, high-level seasons that further enriched the year’s narrative.

Pogacar’s fourth Tour title, triple-Monument success and dual championship stripes together made 2025 the defining season of his already glittering career — one that cements his place among the sport’s all-time greats while still leaving room for more.

As the CyclingUpToDate End-of-Year Awards draw to a close, the fans’ verdict leaves no ambiguity: 2025 was the year of Tadej Pogacar — the undisputed king of modern cycling.