Wout van Aert, 3rd in the election in the past two years, has another chance to win the Vélo d’Or. He wrote three stages and the points classification in the Tour and also won the Omloop and the E3.
Not surprisingly, Remco Evenepoel is also a contender. With Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Clasica San Sebastian, the overall victory in the Vuelta and the world title, 2022 was a farming year for the top talent of Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl.
Evenepoel and Van Aert will face competition from Danish Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, Australian Giro winner Jai Hindley, world hour record holder Filippo Ganna and Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, winner in 2021, and Primoz Roglic, winner in 2020.
The Dutch Mathieu van der Poel, Fabio Jakobsen, Dylan van Baarle and slope champion Harrie Lavreysen and the Briton Geraint Thomas complete the list. With Johan Museeuw (1996), Tom Boonen (2005) and Philippe Gilbert (2011), three compatriots grace the honors list of the Vélo d’Or.
After the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes, a separate Vélo d’Or will also be awarded to the women for the first time. Lotte Kopecky is one of the contenders with victories in the Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders.
But the big top favorite is Annemiek van Vleuten, who won the three Grand Tours in one season, took the world title and also won Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
