Tadej Pogacar's 2024 season not enough for Sportsman of the Year - But Tom Pidcock wins major trophy at Laureus awards

A few weeks ago the nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards were revealed and fans of cycling could deposit their hopes on two riders who performed very well during the 2024 season: Tadej Pogacar and Tom Pidcock. One of them has won the category they had been nominated to, however it wasn't the one most would be expecting.

Pogacar's staggering 2024 included victories at the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, World Championships, Liège-Bastoge-Liège, Il Lombardia and much more. It was truly a season that could not be matched in the perspective of modern time cyclists, and perhaps the only comparable season in the history of the sport came from the benchmark of Eddy Merckx many decades ago.

Naturally the Slovenian was part of the Sportsman of the Year list together with Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, Pole Vaulter Mondo Duplantis, Formula 1 Driver Max Verstappen and swimmer Léon Marchand. Duplantis was the winner of this award whilst USA's Simone Billes won in the women's category.

Real Madrid won the World Team of the year, Rebeca Andrade won Comeback of the Year, Lamine Yamal won Breakthrough of the Year and lastly in the World Action Sportsperson of the Year award there was a British victory with Tom Pidcock's name on it.

Although on the road the Briton's season was at best rocky, with a victory at Amstel Gold Race being the highlight of the year, the award majorly rewarded his achievements off-road which of course included a second Olympic Mountain Bike title at the age of 25.

Pidcock's ability to switch disciplines and be incredibly successful off-road did not go unnoticed, and he has been awarded for what was another spectacular triumph in the discipline where he continues to pile on success. This season with Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, on the road at least, he has already gone off to take several wins and most noticeably be a great rival to Pogacar himself at Strade Bianche.