The 2024 road season has reached a conclusion and that means it’s awards season. For the second annual CyclingUpToDate End of Season Awards, we need your help! Over the coming days, we will be running a series of polls so you can vote for your award winners, starting with the Breakthrough Rider of the Year.
Every vote counts and yours could be all important to deciding the final winner, so take a look through our nominations below and make sure you cast a vote via the poll at the end!
Lennert van Eetvelt
Kicking things off, we have Lotto Dstny’s climbing sensation Lennert Van Eetvelt. Although this was the 23-year-old’s second season at senior level, the Belgian took a real step up over this calendar year. Starting the ball rolling with a victory on his second race day at Trofeo Serra Tramuntana, Van Eetvelt then moved over to the UAE Tour, taking GC success and a stage win.
Van Eetvelt came close to a Vuelta a Espana stage win in 2024
Top 10 finishes at the Belgian National Championships followed, both on the road and against the clock, before Van Eetvelt starred in the opening week of the Vuelta a Espana, coming close to a first Grand Tour stage victory, being denied on the line by Primoz Roglic. After abandoning the Vuelta before stage 12, Van Eetvelt bounced back strongly to end his season on a high, taking overall victory at the Tour of Guangxi in China.
Pablo Castrillo
Like Van Eetvelt, this wasn't Pablo Castrillo’s first season at senior level, but 2024 was the year in which the Spaniard stepped up to the next level. Making a Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana, it didn’t take long for the 23-year-old to make an impact, adding not one but two stage wins.
Castrillo won two stages at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana
On stage 12, Castrillo led home the breakaway ahead of Max Poole, taking a first professional victory of his career. Just a few days later, Castrillo was back at it again, this time holding off the GC group to bag himself a second pro victory on stage 15. As a result of his performances, he has also earned a move to the World Tour with Movistar Team, so time will tell if he can continue to improve in 2025.
Thibau Nys
Although Nys has been a name more predominantly associated with cyclocross over the years, Thibau Nys has made big strides on the road in 2024, taking no fewer than nine victories over the course of the season.
Nys took a total of 9 victories on the road in 2024
Starting with a stage win at the Tour de Romandie in April, Nys was then the strongest of the field at the Tour de Hongrie, winning stage 3 and stage 4 before securing the overall victory to boot. After stages of the Tour of Norway and the Tour de Suisse, Nys then took not one but three victories at the Tour de Pologne. Having already added a win on his return to cyclocross this winter, 2024 has been a real breakthrough season for the 21-year-old Belgian.
Florian Lipowitz
After Primoz Roglic’s arrival at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe for 2024, many expected the likes of Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov to emerge as the Slovenian’s key men in the mountains. Arguably though, the strongest of Roglic’s support stars came in the form of 24-year-old German, Florian Lipowitz.
Lipowitz finished 2nd in the Young Rider Classification at the Vuelta
Having already impressed earlier in the year, finishing 3rd overall at the Tour de Romandie and winning the Sibiu Cycling Tour, Lipowitz really came into his own at the Vuelta a Espana, helping Roglic secure a record equalling 4th Red Jersey triumph whilst finishing 2nd overall himself, narrowly missing out on the Best Young Rider’s jersey to Mathias Skjelmose.
Maxim Van Gils
Another of Lotto Dstny’s burgeoning talents, Maxim Van Gils has been around for a couple of years now, but this campaign and especially this spring, the Belgian kicked on and proved he can compete with the very best in the world in some of the biggest races.
Van Gils (R) finished on the podium at Strade Bianche
Adding a number of victories to his palmares, he took the win at the reduced Vuelta a Andalucia back in February, Van Gils the backed that up with a podium finishes at Faun Drome, Strade Bianche, GP Miguel Indurain, La Fleche Wallonne and the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic. Finishing 4th at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Van Gils then took successive victories at Eschborn-Frankfurt and GP des Kantons Aargau. Although things went quiet over the next few months, Van Gils had one last highlight before season end, finishing 4th at GP Montreal.
Isaac del Toro
Mexico’s cycling wonderkid, Del Toro wasted no time making an impact in his debut World Tour season, finishing on the podium at the Down Under Classic in January before then winning stage 2 of the Tour Down Under a few days later, eventually finishing 3rd overall and taking the Best Young Rider’s Jersey.
Del Toro took victory on just his third professional race day at the Tour Down Under
After finishing 4th overall at Tirreno-Adriatico and then 7th overall at the Itzulia Basque Country, Del Toro took the GC win at the Vuelta Asturias. Finishing the year off with a Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana, the 20-year-old looks set for a big future at UAE Team Emirates.
Remember, use the poll below to cast your vote! The winner is set to be announced one week from today (4th of November).
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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