No surprise to end 2025 - Tadej Pogacar and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot win Velo d'Or awards

The Velo d'Or awards were handed out this Friday evening in Paris after months of anticipation, but with two winners that were already largely expected. Tadej Pogacar and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot were voted as the best male and female riders of the year.

In addition to that, Ferrand-Prévot also won the Jeannie Longo award for best French rider whilst Kévin Vauquelin won the award for male French rider of the year. However when it came to the main awards, there wasn't much suspense to it.

On the women's side it could be argued that Lorena Wiebes and Demi Vollering would've stood a chance at winning it this year, but the return of the Team Visma | Lease a Bike to the road followed by the extreme success she achieved made it difficult for anyone to match.

Ferrand-Prévot had an iconic solo victory at Paris-Roubaix Femmes right after a podium at the Tour of Flanders that showcased her ability to win at the top level once again, and then at the Tour de France Femmes she took a stellar overall victory, winning the two final mountain stages along the way - the last of which, in the yellow jersey.

Pogacar's triumph wasn't a surprise, although he did not attend the event. The Slovenian was a certain win after winning three monuments (finishing on the podium of Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix too), a Grand Tour, the World and European Championships, Strade Bianche, Criterium du Dauphiné, UAE Tour...

There's never been a season such as this in modern cycling (unless perhaps his own 2024 season) and even going down the history book it is hard to find any rider who's been able to achieve similar to what the Slovenian did. In 2026 it will be hard for anyone to take this award from him, with a similar list of goals also in his mind.