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That time again... Use the comments below to nominate your rider and race days of the year! The categories are
- Men’s Rider of the Year
- Women’s Rider of the Year
- Men’s Race Day of the Year
- Women’s Race Day of the Year
Some years it’s obvious where the awards are going ahead of time, or at least a couple of them, but this year I don’t see a dominant entry in any category. The guy who scored the most points, Alejandro Valverde, didn’t exactly run the table with iconic victories prior to his world championship. He even finished second in the Vuelta a Murcia, which is a bit like me finishing second to DS Little Bear in the Woodland Park cyclocross race. He also doesn’t enjoy a ton of popular support, so even though this isn’t a popularity contest (cough) I don’t picture him running away with anything. Several guys who won big races like Geraint Thomas or Niki Terpstra aren’t close to the top of the rankings, and one who is, Peter Sagan, might suffer from comparing his 2018 season to his previous ones. So this one is truly wide open IMHO.
On the women’s side, the Podium Cafe Rankings show three outstanding riders in pretty close competition, with Annemiek van Vleuten, Anna van der Breggen and Amanda Spratt with 3000-3800 points. I did a terrible job of following the women this year, so I don’t want to try to describe what those numbers all mean, but look forward to you guys supplying some rationale for these three and other choices.
On the race days, this is where things get subjective. Reminder: it’s just one day, so don’t write in “Giro d’Italia,” when you could write in “stage of the Giro d’Italia where Sky blew up Simon Yates.” Obviously the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are on the list, because for another few minutes I am still an editor of this website. After that, get creative and help fill in the final ballot.
Get nominees in over the weekend. If we have enough by, say, Tuesday I will open the polls. And remember, when you are nominating, you are speaking to your fellow voters, so feel free to pitch your reasons for why others should follow your lead. Thanks!