We pick out the best performers of the year
Tuesday 30 December 2014 13:50, UK
The past year delivered some outstanding performances from both established names and rising stars.
Here, we count down our Top 10 Riders of 2014…
The Frenchman was simply sensational at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Colombia in February, winning gold medals in the individual sprint, 1km time trial and keirin. The 30-year-old didn’t so much as lose a heat in the sprint, won every round in the keirin and destroyed the field to triumph in the TT, beating his nearest challenger by more than half a second. It was a flawless week of racing.
It has been a bittersweet year for Wiggins. In June he had to stomach the devastating disappointment of being left out of Team Sky’s line-up for the Tour de France, but he managed to deliver enough success before and after to ensure it has still been an excellent season. Having performed superbly on the cobbles to finish ninth at Paris-Roubaix, the 34-year-old subsequently won the Tour of California and then the British national time trial title in Wales. After his Tour omission, Wiggins turned his attention to racing on the track at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and duly helped Britain win silver in the team pursuit, but it was at the world time trial championship where the best performance of his season – and one of the best of his career – came. Underdog to three-time champion Tony Martin, Wiggins produced a magnificent display to beat the German by 26 seconds and fill one of the most glaring holes from his palmares. It also ensured he is now the reigning national, Olympic and world time trial champion.
The 26-year-old pursuiter has enjoyed another stellar year on the track, adding another three major gold medals to her already-impressive collection. The first two came at the world championships in Colombia, where she was part of Britain's triumphant team pursuit quartet and then went on to win her first individual pursuit world title following an impressive victory over world record holder and defending champion Sarah Hammer. Rowsell peaked again in the summer to win individual pursuit gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, a victory that meant she has now been a world, Olympic, European, Commonwealth and national champion in her remarkable career.
Armitstead has enjoyed the best season of her career, picking up four wins and an impressive 22 podiums. The highlight was her dominant victory in the Commonwealth Games road race, but it is the consistency she has exhibited throughout the season that stands her year out. It was no better exemplified than in her overall victory in the UCI Women’s Road World Cup, in which she won one of the nine events and finished on the podium in four others. She also went on a run of eight consecutive podiums in March and April.
If you exclude a four-week block from late June to late July, Nibali’s season has actually been a poor one. He was nowhere to be seen at the Tour of Oman and Paris-Nice, and was still well off the pace at the Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine. However, he then won the Italian national road race title and for the next month was nigh-on unbeatable. He won the second stage of the Tour de France into Sheffield to claim the yellow jersey, produced a performance for the ages to finish third on the cobbled fifth stage, and then took three further stage wins on summit finishes to complete a resounding overall victory, in doing so becoming only the sixth rider in history to have won all three Grand Tours. After that, he duly did nothing for the rest of the season (he was a distant 40th in the world championship road race, for example), but after such a comprehensive Tour triumph, it mattered little.
The Colombian climber has confirmed his status as one of the world's best stage racers in a hugely impressive 2014 campaign. Still just 24 years old, he won the mountainous Tour de San Luis way back in January and then finished second behind Alberto Contador at Tirreno-Adriatico in March. He finished only fifth at a tightly contested Volta a Catalunya, but then became only the second Colombian to win a Grand Tour by comfortably triumphing at the Giro d’Italia. He sealed victory with two sublime performances in particular: a virtuoso solo win on the summit finish at Val Martello and then a masterful victory on the mountain time trial on Monte Grappa. He took the early part of the summer off and won the Vuelta a Burgos in his build-up to a tilt at the Vuelta a Espana title, but his challenge was undone by a pair of crashes on stages 10 and 11, which forced him to quit the race. It was a bad end to what was otherwise a glorious year.
The 24-year-old Pole has long been regarded as one of the rising stars of cycling and he fulfilled that promise in stunning style in 2014, picking up nine wins and 21 podiums. He started the campaign by taking overall victory at the Volta ao Algarve in February – including a win on a summit finish ahead of Alberto Contador and a time trial win ahead of Tony Martin – and followed that up with an impressive triumph at Strade Bianche in which he comprehensively outwitted Peter Sagan. A second-place finish at the Tour of the Basque Country and two podiums from the three Ardennes Classics followed, and although he endured a difficult summer – underwhelming at the Tour de Suisse, Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de France – Kwiatkowski ended the season strongly with a stage win and second place overall at the Tour of Britain, and then a potentially career-defining victory in the world championship road race. Winning the rainbow jersey is an achievement in itself, but the manner in which he tactically outfoxed more experienced rivals such as Alejandro Valverde and Simon Gerrans by launching his decisive attack on a wet descent made it doubly special. It was the crowning glory of a breakthrough year.
The all-conquering Dutch rider has enjoyed another sensational season, the stats from which are simply staggering. From her 45 race days, she won on 19 of them, finished on the podium 32 times and was never outside the top 10. That’s a phenomenal 42 per cent win rate and 71 per cent podium rate, and if you add in general classifications, her totals increase to 21 wins and 37 podiums. And this is all despite the fact she didn’t start her season until the end of April, meaning she missed almost all of the spring classics. The highlights were a dominant win at the Giro d’Italia, three stage wins plus overall victory at the inaugural Women’s Tour of Britain and a sprint triumph on the Champs-Elysees at the first edition of La Course by Le Tour de France. The only blemish was a 10th-place finish in the world championship road race, which was her worst result of the season and the first time she had not finished on the world road race podium in nine years.
Contador looked a spent force in 2013 as he struggled for form and suffered repeated beatings at the hands of Chris Froome. However, the 32-year-old has bounced back superbly with an impressive 2014 campaign that ended with him being awarded the Velo d’Or award - for the best rider of the year - for the fourth time in his career. Despite crashing out of the Tour de France, he has been the outstanding stage racer of the season, winning the Tour of the Basque Country, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Vuelta a Espana for a third time, as well as finishing runner-up at the Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Catalunya and Criterium du Dauphine. His old climbing prowess is back and, love him or loathe him, he has been as entertaining as ever to watch.
A potentially controversial choice given that the 34-year-old Spaniard’s only stage-race victory of the year came at the Ruta del Sol, but close inspection of his results reveals a truly remarkable campaign. Eleven wins is a total a sprinter would be pleased with (Mark Cavendish had the same number, by comparison), but a truer reflection of his excellence in 2014 lies in his 28 podiums – a tally usually reserved for the likes of Sagan and Vos. Indeed, from Amstel Gold Race in April until the end of the season, Valverde never finished a race outside of the top four (individual stages excluded). Among those were wins at La Fleche Wallonne and the Clasica San Sebastian, and podiums at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Vuelta a Espana, the world championship road race and Il Lombardia. Valverde excelled on almost every terrain and was just as competitive over one day as he was over three weeks. It got to the point that if he was on the start line, an each-way bet almost couldn’t fail. In a sport where riders peak for certain parts of the season, Valverde managed to retain top form for the entirety of what was an exceptional year.
Adam Yates
The 22-year-old Briton enjoyed an outstanding debut season as a professional, winning a stage and taking overall victory at the Tour of Turkey, finishing sixth at the Criterium du Dauphine and winning the GP Industria & Artigianato. He also started – and completed – his first Grand Tour, the Vuelta a Espana.
Katie Archibald
The 20-year-old Scot wasn’t even attached to British Cycling just over a year ago but has taken 2014 by storm, winning a world team pursuit title, European titles in the team and individual pursuit, bronze in the Commonwealth Games points race and the British national title in the individual pursuit.
Marcel Kittel
The German consolidated his status as the world’s best sprinter this year, taking 13 wins in total, including four at the Tour de France and two at the Giro d’Italia.
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot
As well as the world road race title, the 22-year-old won the French national title in all of the following disciplines in 2014: road race, road time trial, mountain bike and cyclo-cross.
Kristina Vogel
Vogel was to women’s track sprinting what Pervis was to men’s in 2014, winning world titles in the individual sprint, team sprint and keirin in Colombia in February.
Fabio Aru
The up-and-coming Italian enjoyed a breakthrough year. He claimed one stage win on the way to finishing third at the Giro d'Italia, and then took two stage wins on the way to finishing fifth at the Vuelta a Espana.
