UCI opens voting for its Fans’ Choice Awards with some surprising nominations – Who would get your vote?

The UCI have opened voting for its Fans’ Choice Awards, which allows fans to select their riders of the year across five categories in road cycling.

Awards will be presented to the five winners at the UCI’s annual gala, which will be held in Benidorm on Wednesday, December 9. The shortlists in each category can be found below, with each consisting of 10 names, five men and five women.

The nominees include Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who has three nominations in the Feat of the Year classification, Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) for his win at Il Lombardia, and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) for winning Milan-San Remo, though his fifth Tour de France win seems to have been missed.

Among the women, Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) has three nominations across the Young Rider, Domestique and Climber selections, while Vuelta Femenina winner Paula Blasi (UAE Team L’IMAD) was nominated in the Young and Climbers lists. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) is nominated only for winning stage 1 of the Tour de France, though her other 23 wins aren’t mentioned.

World number one ranked rider Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) was nominated for her victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège but not the Tour de France or her incredible win in Montreal at the World Championships.

And, while Mathys Rondel’s nomination in the Young Rider Performance of the Year category for his GC placings at Paris-Nice and the Tour of the Alps is correct, he is also mentioned as finishing 10th in the Giro d’Italia, when in fact he was 11th.

The UCI Gala is an annual event which celebrates the season and awards the best riders, teams and nations based on the World Rankings, with the fans’ awards a new addition, giving you a voice.

"Riders write the story of every season, but it is among the fans, at the roadside and in front of their screens, that it truly resonates," UCI President David Lappartient said. "It was only natural to give them a voice. The rankings tell us who was strongest; the UCI Fans’ Choice Awards will tell us which moments meant the most to the public."

The awards ceremony will be held at the Centro Cultural de Benidorm and will be broadcast live on the UCI’s YouTube Channel.

Voting opened at 12:00 CET on Wednesday and closes on Tuesday, December 1 at 11:59 pm.

Categories and Nominees

Feat of the Year

Awarded to the most remarkable individual performance in a single race

• Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) - Classica San Sebastián; Tour de France stage 15; World Championships Time Trial
• Franziska Koch (FDJ United-SUEZ) - Paris-Roubaix Femmes
• Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) - Milan-Sanremo Women
• Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirate-XRG) - World Championships Road Race
• Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) - Tour de France Femmes, stage 7
• Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) - Milan-Sanremo
• Marlen Reusser (Movistar) - World Championships Time Trial
• Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) - Paris-Roubaix
• Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) - Tour de France stage 21
• Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) - Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes

Sprinter of the Year

• Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d'Italia Women stage 6
• Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) - Vuelta a España five stage wins
• Lara Gillespie (UAE Team L'IMAD) UAE Tour Women; Omloop van het Hageland; Giro d'Italia Women
• Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) - Omloop van het Hageland; Scheldeprijs; Veenendaal-Veenendaal; GP Mazda Schelkens; Baloise Ladies Tour stage; GP Lucien Van Impe
• Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) - Tour de France Femmes stage 6
• Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) - Giro d’Italia three stage wins; Classique du Mur de Grammont; ADAC Cyclassics; Tour of Guangxi
• Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) - Tour de France stage 7
• Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d'Italia stage 21
• Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) - Tour de France stage 17
• Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) - Tour de France Femmes stage 1.

Young Rider Performance of the Year

• Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD) - Vuelta Femenina GC; Amstel Gold Race
• Viktória Chladaňová (Visma-Lease a Bike) - World Championship Under 23 Road Race
• Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) - Tour de France stage 2; white jersey
• Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) - Giro d'Italia white jersey
• Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d'Italia Women white jersey
• Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) - Tour de France third white jersey classification
• Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) - Tour de France Femmes white jersey
• Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) - Tour de France Femmes polka-dot jersey
• Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling) - Giro d’Italia 10th GC; Paris-Nice 8th GC; Tour of the Alps 5th GC
• Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) - Il Lombardia

Domestique Performance of the Year

• Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-SUEZ) - Tour de France Femmes
• Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) - Vuelta Femenina
• Célia Gery (FDJ United-SUEZ) - Giro d’Italia Women stage 7; Brabantse Pijl; GP de Chambéry; French Championship road race
• Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) - Strade Bianche; Milan-Sanremo; Tour de Romandie; Tour de Suisse
• Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) - Sprint lead out for Lorena Wiebes
• Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) - Giro d’Italia – Stage 19
• Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) - World Championship – Road Race Elite
• Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) - Giro d’Italia stage 2
• Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) - Tour de France stage 13
• Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) - Tour de France; World Championship Road Race

Climber of the Year

• Paula Blasi (UAE Team L'IMAD) - Vuelta Femenina – general and climber classification
• Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) - Tour de France – polka dot jersey
• Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) - Giro d’Italia – blue jersey
• Felix Gal (Decathlon-CMA CGM) - Giro d’Italia 2nd GC; Vuelta a España 3rd GC
• Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L'IMAD) - Tour de France Femmes 3rd GC
• Enric Mas (Movistar) - Vuelta a España general classification
• Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) - Tour de France Femmes stage
• Puck Pieterse (Fenix Premier Tech) - Tour de France Femmes climber classification
• Petra Stiasny (Human Powered Health) - Vuelta Femenina stage 7
• Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) - Giro d’Italia general classification and 5 stages

Have your say

While the official winners won't be announced until next month, we're keen to hear who our Cycling News readers will be voting for this year.

Have your say across the five categories in our unofficial polls below, and be sure to let us know the reasons behind your picks in the comments below!