Having been the most dominant rider this year in Classics, other one day events and several stage races, Philippe Gilbert has unsurprisingly been awarded the prestigious Vélo d’Or trophy. The Belgian clocked up 18 victories this season, starting in February and running right through to September.
He finished up with 89 points in the French Vélo magazine contest, comfortably beating Tour de France victor Cadel Evans (73 pts) and the world road race champion Mark Cavendish (54).
In taking the nineteenth Vélo d’Or trophy, he joins the past winners Miguel Indurain, Tony Rominger, Laurent Jalabert, Johan Museeuw, Jan Ullrich, Marco Pantani, Lance Armstrong, Mario Cipollini, Tom Boonen, Paolo Bettini, Alberto Contador and 2010 victor Fabian Cancellara.
Gilbert’s victories this year include a stage in the Tour de France (where he also wore the yellow jersey), the Montepaschi Strade Bianche, Flèche Brabançonne, the treble of Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, as well as the Belgian time trial and road race championships, the Tour of Belgium, the San Sebastian Classic, the Grand Prix of Québec, the Grand Prix de Wallonie and the Ster ZLM Toer.
The Omega Pharma Lott rider also took stage wins in the Volta ao Algarve, Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of Belgium, the Ster ZLM Toer and the Eneco Tour of Benelux.
The haul meant that he ended the year as the clear leader in the UCI WorldTour ranking, one of his stated goals for the season, and earned a lucrative contract with the BMC Racing Team.
As is traditionally the case, Vélo magazine also named two other award winners. The French Vélo d’Or for 2011 is Thomas Voeckler, who had a superb Tour de France and led the race for over a week. He ultimately finished fourth overall, and had the best French performance in several years. He finished ahead of his Europcar team-mate Pierre Rolland, the winner on Alpe d’Huez and best young rider in this year’s Tour, and the track rider Gregory Beaugé.
The Le Vélo d'Or Espoir for best young rider was secured by Tour of Poland winner and Vuelta stage victor Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), who beat double Tour de France stage winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) by just one point.
Previous Velo d’Or winners:
1992, Miguel Indurain (Spain)
1993, Miguel Indurain (Spain)
1994, Tony Rominger (Switzerland)
1995, Laurent Jalabert (France)
1996, Johan Museeuw (Belgium)
1997, Jan Ullrich (Germany)
1998, Marco Pantani (Italy)
1999, Lance Armstrong (USA)
2000, Lance Armstrong (USA)
2001, Lance Armstrong (USA)
2002, Mario Cipollini (Italy)
2003, Lance Armstrong (USA)
2004, Lance Armstrong (USA)
2005, Tom Boonen (Belgium)
2006, Paolo Bettini (Italy)
2007, Alberto Contador (Spain)
2008, Alberto Contador (Spain)
2009, Alberto Contador (Spain)
2010, Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)