STA, 25 November - Slovenian Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar has received the 2021 Velo d'Or, a prestigious cycling prize awarded by the French sports publisher l'Equipe. Last year's laureate Primož Roglič came in second.
The Velo d'Or has been awarded since 1992 by Velo Magazine for outstanding achievements in the sport and Pogačar really did have an outstanding season.
The 23-year-old ended the year at the top of the World Cycling Union (UCI) rankings, having become the 13th rider to defend the Tour de France title.
He also won two major one-day races, the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro di Lombardia, and finished third in the Olympic road race.
He notched up a total of 13 individual victories in the season.
Roglič also won 13 times this year, but had to end the Tour prematurely due to injury. He made up for that by winning his third consecutive La Vuelta and the Olympic time trial.
