The most prestigious individual award in cycling has been awarded to the two winners of the Tour de France.
In football, you have to win the World Cup to be Ballon d’Or. In cycling, it is the Grande Boucle which makes a rider a natural favorite to the equivalent in the peloton: the Vélo d’Or. Awarded on Tuesday October 24 in Paris, the trophy honored the male and female winners of the 2023 Tour de France. Crowned for a second consecutive year, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) is ahead of the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck ) and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE), winner in 2021, among the men.
“It’s a huge honor for me to win this Vélo d’Or. When I saw the list of past winners, I felt an incredible feeling. I am very happy that Eddy Merckx, the cycling icon , give me this trophy”reacted Jonas Vingegaard in a video broadcast during the ceremony.
Laporte and Ferrand-Prévot in the spotlight
Among the women, the Dutchwoman Demi Vollering (SD-Worx), winner of the women’s Tour de France in July, was acclaimed, ahead of her Belgian teammate and world champion (among others) Lotte Kopecky, then the newly retired Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar). In this unique evening, modeled on the Ballon d’Or and which took place at the Gabriel Pavilion, on the eve of the presentation of the Tour de France 2024, other prizes were distributed.
Christophe Laporte, the French sprinter of the Jumbo-Visma and recent European champion, received the Bernard Hinault trophy for best road runner in France. World mountain bike champion this summer in Glasgow, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won the Daniel Morelon prize for “best French cyclist representing off-road Olympic sports” (track, BMX and mountain bike).
As for Lotte Kopecky and Mathieu van der Poel, favorites for the Vélo d’Or but big losers of the evening, they console themselves with the Eddy Merckx prize for best rider and classics rider. Note that for this first in this new format, several winners (Vingegaard, Van der Poel and Ferrand-Prévot) were not physically present.