{"id":197410,"date":"2024-12-09T07:17:49","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T07:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=197410"},"modified":"2024-12-09T07:19:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T07:19:36","slug":"pogacar-and-kopecky-win-2024-velo-dor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/12\/09\/pogacar-and-kopecky-win-2024-velo-dor\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar and Kopecky win 2024 V\u00e9lo d\u2019Or"},"content":{"rendered":"

To absolutely no one\u2019s surprise, since he probably had the most successful year of any cyclist in the sport\u2019s history, Tadej Poga\u010dar was on Friday named the recipient of the V\u00e9lo d\u2019Or, as the best cyclist of the year. And for good measure, the UAE Team Emirates leader also received the Eddy Merckx Men’s Trophy as the best Classics rider of the year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The 26-year-old Slovenian registered an astonishing 25 wins this year, including the Giro d\u2019Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championship Road Race, only the third male rider to win all three races in the same year, and the first since Stephen Roche in 1987. And he won the world championship with a jaw-dropping solo of 100km that had veteran riders and commentators searching for appropriate superlatives.<\/p>\n

In this super year, Poga\u010dar also won the Strade Bianche, Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, the Grand Prix Cicliste de Montral, the Giro dell\u2019Emilia and, last but definitely not least, Il Lombardia with another eye-catching solo of \u2018only\u2019 48.5km. What else is there to say about a rider who dominates his sport in the manner of Eddy Merckx, who has already called him the GOAT, the greatest of all time.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"opinion-is-tadej-pogacar-the-goat\"\/<\/a><\/div>
\n Road cycling<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Opinion: Is Tadej Poga\u010dar the Goat?<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

Poga\u010dar also won the award in 2021, but he said at the awards ceremony, held at the Pavillon Gabriel in Paris, that this time it meant more to him. “I was still young [then],\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cAs the years pass, we realize the importance of things. I feel honored that all the work has been recognized. It will be almost impossible to have another year like this, but I will do my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the competition for the women\u2019s V\u00e9lo d\u2019Or was less cut-and-dried, Lotte Kopecky of the SD Worx\u2013Protime team was a no less deserving winner. The 29-year-old Belgian won 16 races in 2024, including her second Road Race World Championship in a row, the European Time Trial Championship, the UAE Tour Women, the Tour de Romandie F\u00e9minin, the Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift<\/a>, both titles at the Belgian national championships, Strade Bianche Donne,<\/strong> the Tour of Britain Women and the Simac Ladies Tour. Not a bad haul at all.<\/p>\n

Kopecky \u2013 who, like Poga\u010dar, was also named the winner of the Eddy Merckx Trophy \u2013 came within 21 seconds of winning her first-ever Grand Tour in this year\u2019s Giro d\u2019Italia. But because of her robust physique, she is not a superior climber and may therefore become the best rider, male or female, never to win a Grand Tour.<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Team SD Worx – Protime (@teamsdworxprotime)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n