{"id":7373,"date":"2024-10-18T10:08:18","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7373"},"modified":"2024-11-13T10:21:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T09:21:41","slug":"kopecky-favoured-to-win-velo-dor-but-goat-vos-has-outside-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/18\/kopecky-favoured-to-win-velo-dor-but-goat-vos-has-outside-chance\/","title":{"rendered":"Kopecky Favoured to Win V\u00e9lo d\u2019Or, but GOAT Vos Has Outside Chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nominations for the 2024 V\u00e9lo d’Or were announced on Monday, ten men and ten women competing for the most prestigious individual award in road racing. The prize was created in 1992 by the French V\u00e9lo Magazine<\/em> but only for male riders. A women\u2019s prize was added in 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t be speculating here about the men\u2019s prize, since it is as foregone a conclusion as was the recent Il Lombardia and will have the same winner. But the women\u2019s prize is far from certain, with a number of riders able to stake a claim for the award. Here is the list of nominees:<\/p>\n

* Grace Brown (AUS, FDS-Suez)
\n* Kristen Faulkner (USA, EF Oatly-Cannondale)
\n* Lotte Kopecky (BEL, SD Worx-Protime)
\n* Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA, Lidl-Trek)
\n* Evita Muzic (FRA, FDJ-Suez)
\n* Katarzyna Niewiadoma (POL, Canyon-Sram)
\n* Pauliena Rooijakkers (NED, Fenix-Deceuninck)
\n* Demi Vollering (NED, SD Worx-Protime)
\n* Marianne Vos (NED, Visma-Lease a Bike)
\n* Lorena Wiebes (NED, SD Worx-Protime)<\/p>\n

But first, I\u2019d like to say that for me, the female rider of the year is the 22-year-old Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) who won the world mountain bike cross-country title in 2024 and then, in her first year in road racing, won the U-23 road race world championship, won a stage and the best young rider competition in the Tour de France Femmes (TdFF), and finished in the top 10 of no fewer than seven one-day races, including third-place finishes in the classic Ronde van Drenthe and Trofeo Alfredo Binda. A remarkable year by any measure but she hasn\u2019t been nominated. However, she will be soon, I\u2019m certain of that.<\/p>\n

As for the riders who actually have a chance to win the V\u00e9lo d’Or, Kopecky should be considered the favourite, if only because she won the Elite Women\u2019s Road Race World Championship for the second year in a row.\u00a0 She also won the Strade Bianche Donne, the Tour de Romandie F\u00e9minin, Paris-Roubaix Femmes, the UAE Tour Women, the Tour of Britain Women and the recent Simac Ladies Tour.<\/p>\n

Kopecky also won the European time trial championship, finished second in the World Gravel Championship and, just a few days ago, won silver at the Track World Championships in the Elimination competition. She is also the number 1 woman rider on UCI\u2019s World Rankings list, well ahead of Vollering, last year\u2019s V\u00e9lo d’Or, and Longo Borghini. That\u2019s quite a year, even if she finished a disappointing third in the Olympic road race, behind Faulkner and Vos, and sixth in the time trial in Paris.<\/p>\n

By her own very high standards, Vollering has had a disappointing year, losing the TdFF by a mere 4 seconds to Niewiadoma<\/a> after crashing and losing 1:47 to the eventual winner on stage 5. She finished third in Strade Bianche Donne and second in La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne F\u00e9minine, races she won last year. So her victories in the Vuelta Espa\u00f1a Femenina, Vuelta a Burgos Feminas\u00a0and\u00a0Itzulia women probably won\u2019t be enough for her to repeat.<\/p>\n

A sentimental case could be made for Vos who, at the age of 37, had a marvellous year, winning the TdFF \u0160koda Green Jersey, the Vuelta Espa\u00f1a Femenina<\/a> points classification, the UCI World Gravel Championship, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina and three spring classics. But sentiment shouldn\u2019t, and rarely does, play a part in awards, though I\u2019m sure no one would complain if she did receive the V\u00e9lo d’Or.<\/p>\n

The same applies to Brown who won the time trial gold medals in the Summer Olympic and world championships in the final season of her career. She was also victorious in Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge Femmes, the world championship mixed-relay team time trial\u00a0and the recent Chrono des Nations.<\/p>\n

\"Lotte<\/a>
As for the riders who actually have a chance to win the V\u00e9lo d’Or, Kopecky should be considered the favourite, if only because she won the Elite Women\u2019s Road Race World Championship for the second year in a row. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a sprinter, Wiebes has had a very good year, taking home four green jerseys, winning the Gent-Wevelgem, the Ronde van Drenthe and the green and yellow jerseys at the RideLondon Classique and Baloise Ladies Tour. But if the V\u00e9lo d’Or were to go to a sprinter this year, it would be to Vos.<\/p>\n

Finally, Niewiadoma had a very good year, finally getting back to winning races again after falling short for quite some time. But her impressive TdFF victory and her win in\u00a0La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne F\u00e9mininewon\u2019t be enough to sway the judges.<\/p>\n

That leaves Longo Borghini who won the \u00a0Giro d’Italia Women, the Giro dell’Emilia Internazionale Donne Elite, the Tour of Flanders, and La Fl\u00e8che Braban\u00e7onne. These are excellent results but not as impressive as those of Kopecky and Vos.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty clear that, going on results alone, Kopecky should receive the 2024 V\u00e9lo d’Or, which would reward not only her performances this year but also her high level of riding over the past few years. Last year, she was awarded the Eddy Merckx Trophy Women for being the best classics rider of the year. But she is clearly more than that.<\/p>\n

However, Vos has had a magnificent career and her year was certainly good enough for voters to award her a final honour before she retires. But I hope they remain clear-eyed and give the honour to the best woman rider of the year, rather than the best of all time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The nominations for the 2024 V\u00e9lo d’Or were announced on Monday, ten men and ten women competing for the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":7385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-7373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"\nLotte Kopecky Favoured to Win V\u00e9lo d'Or<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/18\/kopecky-favoured-to-win-velo-dor-but-goat-vos-has-outside-chance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kopecky Favoured to Win V\u00e9lo d\u2019Or, but GOAT Vos Has Outside Chance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The nominations for the 2024 V\u00e9lo d’Or were announced on Monday, ten men and ten women competing for the most […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/18\/kopecky-favoured-to-win-velo-dor-but-goat-vos-has-outside-chance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - 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