The French Vélo Journal has introduced the finalists for its yearly Vélo d’Or award, with 10 males and 10 ladies up for the distinguished season-end prize.
On the boys’s facet, it is no shock that Tadej Pogačar (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG) heads the choice, with the Slovenian in line for his third Vélo d’Or trophy after one other dominant highway racing season.
The ladies’s area might see Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) come away along with her second trophy after successful the prize in 2023, although Pauline Ferrand-Prévot(Visma-Lease a Bike) is the favorite to return out on high.
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Pogačar, who received the award in 2021 and final yr, is the overwhelming favorite to win once more on the ceremony in Paris on December 5. The 27-year-old received 20 races in the course of the 2025 season, together with the Tour de France, World and European Championships, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche, Il Lombardia, La Flèche Wallonne, and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
He’ll face competitors from Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who received nationwide, world and European time trial titles throughout his closing season at Soudal-QuickStep. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who received Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tour runner-up and Vuelta a España winner, are additionally within the operating.
The lads’s shortlist is accomplished by Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), Isaac del Toro (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG), João Almeida (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG), and Ben Healy (EF Schooling-EasyPost).
Over within the ladies’s competitors, Ferrand-Prévot appears to be like to be the recent favorite after successful Paris-Roubaix and changing into the primary Frenchwoman to win the fashionable iteration of the Tour de France Femmes.
Vollering – who received the European highway title, La Vuelta Female, the Volta a Catalunya, Strade Bianche, and Itzulia Ladies along with taking second on the Tour – is one other main contender.
Elsewhere, 5 rider shortlists for the Eddy Merckx Trophy – which rewards the perfect Classics rider of the season – have additionally been finalised.
Pogačar and Van der Poel look set to go head-to-head for the boys’s award, with Pedersen, Evenepoel, and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) additionally on the listing. Within the ladies’s shortlist, Wiebes and Ferrand-Prévot determine to be the favourites, whereas Vollering, Pieterse, and Le Court docket-Pienaar are additionally within the operating.
