Tadej Pogačar and Demi Vollering top Vélo d’Or nominations – Who would get your vote?
A few days after Harry Kane and Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or for excellence in football, the 2026 Vélo d’Or nominations were revealed with the season’s biggest stars leading the shortlists for the men’s and women’s awards.
The Vélo d’Or – ‘Golden Bicycle’ in English – is a prestigious award that is handed out by France’s Vélo Magazine with the winners decided by a jury of international cycling journalists.
There are two main awards, the Vélo d’Or for men and women, which is given to the overall best road rider of the year. There are then a number of sub-categories, including Classics rider of the year, sprinter of the year, rookie of the year, French rider of the year and paracyclist of the year.
The shortlists for all of the categories were unveiled on Thursday, a month ahead of the awards ceremony on Saturday, November 28, in Paris, with nominations full of the year’s standout racers.
Three-time winner Tadej Pogačar is once again nominated for the men’s award after taking his fifth Tour de France title, with his teammates Isaac del Toro and world champion Brandon McNulty also making the list. The two other Grand Tour winners of the year – Jonas Vingegaard and Enric Mas – also earned nominations, alongside Paul Seixas, Remco Evenepoel and Felix Gall.
Only two Classics specialists are up for the main award: Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.
On the women’s list, Demi Vollering is surely a favourite to win her second Vélo d’Or, with last year’s winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot perhaps surprisingly not receiving a nomination after a lacklustre year on the road, though she is nominated for French rider of the year.
Tour de France Femmes stars Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Marlen Reusser and Elisa Longo Borghini all make the list, as did revelation Paula Blasi, Antonia Niedermaier, Juliette Berthet, Anna van der Breggen, Kim Le Court-Pienaar and sprint sensation Lorena Wiebes.
Matthew Brennan, Jakob Omrzel and Paul Seixas are up for the men’s rookie of the year, with Paula Blasi, Célia Gery and Isabella Holmgren earning the women’s rookie nominations.
Cast your vote!
Whilst we won’t know the official, jury-ratified results until the end of November, now that the nominations are out we wanted to put the shortlists to you and see who our Cyclingnews readers would vote for.
Did Pogačar do enough to earn a fourth award, or has Paul Seixas run away with it? Can anyone come close to Demi Vollering’s achievements this year? And which rookie impressed you?
We’ve created polls for the main awards and the rookie awards, and you can scroll down for the full nominations of the other categories. But first, get voting, and tell us your thoughts in the comments too.
Other categories
Classics rider of the year (men)
- Remco Evenepoel
- Tadej Pogačar
- Paul Seixas
- Wout van Aert
- Mathieu van der Poel
Classics rider of the year (women)
- Franziska Koch
- Lotte Kopecky
- Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney
- Puck Pieterse
- Demi Vollering
Sprinter of the year (men)
- Matthew Brennan
- Paul Magnier
- Tim Merlier
- Jonathan Milan
- Jasper Philipsen
Sprinter of the year (women)
- Elisa Balsamo
- Lara Gillespie
- Charlotte Kool
- Nienke Veenhoven
- Lorena Wiebes
French rider of the year (men)
- Dorian Godon
- Romain Grégoire
- Paul Magnier
- Lenny Martinez
- Paul Seixas
French rider of the year (women)
- Juliette Berthet
- Marion Bunel
- Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt
- Célia Gery
- Cédrine Kerbaol
Paracyclist of the year
- Louis Hubert
- Florian Jouanny
- Alexandre Léauté
- Thomas Tarou
- Anaïs Vincent
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