We had a pandemic, we had cancelled races but we still had a season and some iconic moments.
Aww I actually thought we were going to review other forum users :-(
Rider of the year?
I said "van Aert" last week, and after thinking about it, i've only become more convinced of it. When he won, he won because he was the best and
in spite of him getting little to no team support. He was among the best sprinters, the best climbers, the best cobbled riders, best ITT'ers, best domestiques, won with panache, lost with honor.
One day race of the year?
Strade
Stage race of the year?
Burgos. First meeting of Evenepoel with top tier climbers. Emergence of João Almeida. Insane effort by Roger Adria. Crosswinds before the Picon Blanco in stage 3.
GT of the year?
TDF
Your favourite moment of the year?
Van Aert winning Strade at the same moment Evenepoel was winning in Burgos.
Van Aert winning was even more of an emotional moment considering his injury.
Stage of the year?
Stage 4 Tour de Pologne.
WTF moment of the year?
TDF ITT Planche. Wout and Tom agree.
Best climber of the year?
Sepp Kuss? I would like to see him unshackled to really be able to judge his level. He looks dominant often, and then he's gone. I'm sure he could have won the final stage in Burgos if he didn't have to babysit Bennett for a top 10 spot in GC.
Best TTer of the year?
Ganna and the only guy who beat him.
Best sprinter of the year?
I didn't see any sprinter really dominating against other top level sprinters.
So i'll go with Démare.
No, i'll go with Jakobsen. I think he was going to be a real contender this year in the big races (he was certainly on track to whoop Groenewegen's ass in Pologne). Hope he can come back healthy and pick up where he left off.
Best classic rider of the year?
Van Aert & Alaphilippe
Your disappointment of the year?
The absolute boring, coma-inducing way of riding by Jumbo/Roglic would have been the disappointment of the year if it weren't for Evenepoel's crash in Lombardia.
Your surprise rider of the year?
Almeida & Hirschi
Most aggressive rider of the year?
Roglic.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITcNbEPdpJU
Best domestique of the year?
Van Aert in the TDF.
Roglic in the TDF (for Pogacar).
Best win of the year?
Van der Poel beating van Aert by tactics in the sprint. Very deliberate and sly because it increased his chances considerably.
Wellens beating Woods in the Vuelta by wit and making the effort to check the roadbook. Brilliant win.
Sagan winning a 25km sprint.
Evenepoel taking a 53km stroll.
Best team of the year?
Ineos. They won a bigger GT than Jumbo, and raced much more aggressively and entertainingly throughout due to leaders dropping like flies.
Most iconic moment of the year?
Evenepoel dropping Landa, Mas, Yates, Chaves, Bennett, Grossschartner, Carapaz, Kuss, Sosa, Valverde... on Picon Blanco.
Boni question - Forum user of the year:
Sandisfan, for personally being responsible for half of my "likes" and often understanding when i'm joking when others don't.