Who ruled the peloton in 2024? Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard ranks revealed as top 10 riders named
Published 30/12/2024 at 09:42 GMT
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The second of our end-of-year reviews weighs up the best performers of 2024 with our now traditional countdown from 10 to 1. It doesn’t take a genius to guess who emerges as top of the pack – Tadej Pogacar was peerless all season – but the remaining nine places behind the Slovenian superstar are all up for grabs as the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Lotte Kopecky and Primoz Roglic do battle.
'A rider for the history books!' - Watch Pogacar's best wins in dazzling 2024
Video credit: TNT Sports
When is a spoiler not a spoiler? When what you say is bleeding obvious. In this case, there’s no way that a rider fresh from securing cycling’s first Triple Crown since 1987 cannot finish anything but first in a list showcasing the season’s best riders. But at least the order and identities of those beneath him may come as a surprise.
Just two new entries appear in our definitive list of the top 10 riders of 2024 with one rider – who made history at the Tour de France – returning to the fold after dropping out of the standings in 2023.
Controversy reigns supreme with one Grand Tour winner not making the final cut – by the narrowest of margins, we hasten to add – while the men’s defending Tour champion keeps a place at the top table despite the crash that always had him playing catch-up in the battle for a third yellow in July.
As in previous years, there is no exact science to the list. It’s a far cry from the official UCI rankings or those you might see on certain stats-based pro cycling websites. If you disagree with any of the decisions, then tough luck. But feel free to air your views to our cycling correspondent Felix Lowe – aka @saddleblaze on X – who is quite accustomed to prickly messages and general outrage.
Once we have revealed the top 10, we explain why three riders dropped out after starring in 2023, and we give an honourable mention to those who were knocking on the door.  For a reminder of previous selections, click the link below or here. But now, let’s bring you the best 10 riders of 2024 in reverse order.
10. Grace Brown (New Entry)
Major results: Nine wins, including Liege-Bastogne-Liege, two world titles and an Olympic gold medal
Initially on the list of also-rans, the Australian got the nod late on by virtue of capping her final season as a pro in style. Bookending her year with time trial wins – in the national championships back in January and at the Chrono des Nations 10 months later – Brown made sure that her last year was her most prolific.
A disappointing Spring Classics campaign was saved by a fantastic victory in La Doyenne, before Brown used her time trialling expertise to set up victory in the Bretagne Ladies Tour. A gold medal in Paris 2024 was followed by a low-key Tour de France Femmes before Brown effectively retired the rainbow jersey from time trials in 2025 by winning the Worlds TT in Zurich, then doubling up in the mixed relay.
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'Is she going to snatch it on the line?' - Brown upsets Longo Borghini and Vollering
Video credit: TNT Sports
For all her brilliance against the clock, however, it was that Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory which tipped the scales in her favour. And what a win it was, with Brown all but down and out when overcooking a roundabout with less than 7km to go. But she battled back and then came from deep to win a scintillating six-up sprint and deny Elisa Longo Borghini at the death.
The 32-year-old FDJ-Suez rider now rides into the sunset as she hangs up her cycling shoes on a high. Rarely does a rider retire when so firmly on top of their game.
9. Biniam Girmay (Return)
Results: Five wins including a Tour de France sprint hat-trick and the green jersey
Of all the top tier sprinters to win three stages at a Grand Tour this year – and it’s an illustrious list that also includes Jasper Philipsen, Kaden Groves, Wout van Aert, Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan – Girmay was author of the most significant hat-trick.
Two years after he became the first Black rider to win a Classic (Gent-Wevelgem) and the first to win a stage on a Grand Tour (the Giro d’Italia), Girmay made further history with his victory in Turin in Stage 3 of the Tour.
If Mark Cavendish’s subsequent victory at Saint-Vulbas took the spotlight off the 24-year-old Eritrean, then – once the dust had settled on the Manx Missile’s 35th triumph – Girmay ensured that he was quickly back in the headlines. First, with a second sprint win in Stage 8 at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises and then a third at Villeneuve-sur-Lot in Stage 12.
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'It's a hat-trick!' - Girmay in control of green jersey after winning stop-start sprint
Video credit: TNT Sports
It was a sign of Girmay’s class that the second two wins came ahead of Belgians Philipsen and Van Aert – the winners of the last two green jersey competitions, the same green that the Intermarche-Wanty rider took in Stage 5 and wore all the way to Paris.
True, Girmay did not stand atop a podium again last season, and true, he’d only taken two wins prior to the Tour. But for his trailblazing hat-trick of Tour stage wins, the green jersey, and the impact this all has on African cycling, Girmay easily merits his place in the top 10.
8. Demi Vollering (Down 4)
Results: 15 wins including La Vuelta Espana Femenina, Itzulia, Vuelta a Burgos and Tour de Suisse
The Dutch all-rounder was two wins down from her tally of 17 in 2023 but nevertheless enjoyed another stellar season – in challenging circumstances that ultimately led to her departure from SD Worx-Protime to FDJ-Suez.
Hampered by ongoing team tactical blunders and an internal rivalry with team-mate Lotte Kopecky, Vollering still won four stage races, including the Vuelta Espana Femenina for the first time. Despite two stage wins in the Tour de France Femmes, she was unable to defend her crown – going all-in on the final day on Alpe d’Huez but coming up an agonising four seconds short.
Her team’s baffling decision not to send anyone back to help Vollering after her crash at the business end of Stage 5 was costly: by favouring a stage win for Blanka Vas and an eighth place for Lorena Wiebes, SD Worx saw Vollering lose the yellow jersey and made it an uphill task larger than the sum of those 21 hairpin bends on Dutch Mountain.
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Vollering attacks on penultimate climb as Niewiadoma loses the wheel
Video credit: TNT Sports
During the spring, Vollering was constantly in the mix – with four podium finishes in major Classics – and over the course of the year, she was extremely consistent, finishing outside the top 10 in less than a third of her 44 race days.
SD Worx’s loss is FDJ’s gain given Vollering is still only 28 and approaching her prime. Her new team’s attacking mentality will suit Vollering, who joins as co-leader alongside Evita Muzic and new-signing Juliette Labous.
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Down 5)
Results: Winner of O Gran Camino, Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour de Pologne; Tour de France runner-up
A season that started so strongly – with three consecutive stage wins and the overall title at O Gran Camino – may have ended on a high with victory in the Tour de Pologne, but it was ultimately a frustrating, disappointing and painful year for the Dane.
Vingegaard’s horror crash in Itzulia Basque Country always made the defence of his Tour de France crown a tall order. And just as his big rival Tadej Pogacar had suffered 12 months previously after his own return from injury, Vingegaard lacked sharpness and fitness come July.
Still, he put up a spirited fight – more or less matching the Slovenian in the opening week, and even getting the better of Pogacar in that thrilling stage in the Massif Central. In fact, no other rider in 2024 managed to chase down a Pogacar attack before beating him in a two-up sprint as Vingegaard did in Le Lioran.
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'What a story that is!' - Vingegaard triumphs over Pogacar on the line after extraordinary day
Video credit: TNT Sports
We will never know if a fully fit Vingegaard would have been a match for the Pogi juggernaut in 2024 – not least because their paths had not crossed prior to the Tour, by which time the Slovenian already seemed destined to snare the second part of his Triple Crown. But the Dane’s clinical wins at O Gran Camino and Tirreno-Adriatico suggest that things would have at least been far closer than the six minutes that separated the two titans come Nice.
With six fewer wins and one less yellow jersey than 2023, it’s normal that Vingegaard sees his stock drop in this year’s list. But there’s no way the 27-year-old doesn’t merit inclusion given all he achieved both before and after that punctured lung, broken ribs and shattered collarbone. The scene is perfectly set for a thrilling showdown between Vingegaard and Pogacar at next year’s Tour.
6. Ben O’Connor (New Entry)
Results: Runner-up in Vuelta and World Championship road race, 4th in Giro d’Italia
A rider with only three wins all season lurking outside the top five… What have you been smoking at Eurosport HQ? But hear us out. Three wins equals three wins more than 2023 and an improvement on all of his season tallies to date for O’Connor, a rider who came of age in 2024.
O’Connor got his year off to a winning start in the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia one-day race – riding to glory after being part of a breakaway of over 100km. Victory atop Jebel Jais in the UAE Tour 10 days later confirmed O’Connor’s fine form, as did a top five in Tirreno-Adriatico, as did a runner-up spot in the Tour of the Alps.
A maiden Grand Tour podium almost came at the Giro, where O’Connor came fourth behind Pogacar, Dani Martinez and Geraint Thomas. But the best was yet to come. If things had already been going well for the 28-year-old, Stage 6 of the Vuelta turned his year – and arguably career – on its head.
Entering the day almost two minutes down in the standings, O’Connor got himself in the day’s breakaway with just under 120km remaining and then soloed to the biggest win of his career in Yunquera to power into the race lead. Not only did O’Connor prise the red jersey from Primoz Roglic’s shoulders, but he also now held a 4’51" gap over the triple champion – setting up a barnstorming cat-and-mouse dynamic for the rest of the race.
The Alto de Moncalvillo ultimately proved one climb to many, with O’Connor finally relinquishing the lead in Stage 19 just two days from Madrid. But a battling performance to Picon Blanco saw him limit his losses before O’Connor put in a masterful final time trial in the Spanish capital to protect his second place from Enric Mas.
But the season was not over. Not content with his best-ever Grand Tour finish, O’Connor carried his form through to the World Championships where he was part of Australia’s mixed relay TTT gold medal-winning team before riding to a splendid silver medal in the men’s road race in Zurich. It provided a fine end to his four-year stint at AG2R-La Mondiale, with O’Connor now heading home to Jayco-AlUla having proved that he can mix with the best.
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Image credit: Getty Images
5. Mathieu van der Poel (Down 3)
Results: Winner of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix
For the third year running, the Tour de France was a huge disappointment for Van der Poel, who seemed to be reduced to supporting team-mate Jasper Philipsen more than riding for his own ambitions – as he had done in Milano-Sanremo at the start of the spring. True, the Tour route did not suit the Dutchman so well – and next year’s lumpy Classics-style parcours should see a return to form, especially with the Mur-de-Bretagne back on the agenda.
But no one can take that magical three weeks away from the spring, in which Van der Poel – resplendently decked out in his rainbow jersey – won the E3 Saxo Classic, narrowly missed out in Gent-Wevelgem, and then pulled off a sumptuous Ronde-Roubaix double after clinical long-range raids over the cobbles.
He ended the spring with a career-best third in Liege before a subdued Tour yielded no top-10 finishes. Twelfth in the Olympic road race was another disappointment and was followed by a frustrating Renewi Tour. But Van der Poel found his mojo again at the Tour de Luxembourg, where he won a stage before surprisingly conceding the overall title to Antonio Tiberi on the final day.
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'This is the move!' - Van der Poel launches blistering solo attack with whopping 60km to go
Video credit: TNT Sports
Given Pogacar’s form, a defence of his rainbow jersey in Zurich was always going to be an uphill struggle. But the 29-year-old defied expectations to secure a bronze medal. He then ended his season with victory in the Gravel World Championships, dropping fellow escapee Florian Vermeersch with 13km to go and winning solo with over a minute gap – to secure his eighth world championship across three different disciplines.
4. Primoz Roglic (Up 2)
Results: Winner of La Vuelta and the Criterium du Dauphine
It took the Slovenian just one Paris-Nice to bed in at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe with Roglic’s first win coming in the opening TT at Itzulia just three days ahead of the horror crash that dashed his hopes and curtailed the season of his former Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Vingegaard.
Like Remco Evenepoel and Vingegaard, Roglic withdrew in that fateful fourth stage – but his injuries were not as bad as his rivals and he was soon back to winning ways at the Criterium du Dauphine, where he took two stage wins en route to the overall victory.
Roglic was in fourth place at the Tour – over two minutes adrift – when a crash on the short descent into Le Lioran saw him aggravate an old injury. Two days later, his unlucky relationship with the Tour continued with his third DNF in three appearances.
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'Are we watching the coronation?' – Roglic takes red jersey with Stage 19 win
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Not since his penultimate day’s loss to compatriot Pogacar in 2020 has Roglic managed to complete a Tour – during a time frame that has seen him win three other Grand Tours. The latest – and a record-equalling fourth – came at the Vuelta, where Roglic won three stages and kept his cool to reel in O’Connor two days from the finish.
The less said about the Worlds and the Italian Autumn Classics the better, but Roglic’s ability to bounce back in Spain yet again, coupled with his early-season promise, merits his return to the top five of this list.
3. Lotte Kopecky (Up 4)
Results: World Championships road race gold, two national titles, European ITT title, victories in Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche, Tour of Britain and Simac Ladies Tour
Sixteen wins in another stellar season saw the Belgian all-rounder bring up a career half century well before her 29th birthday. With overall victories in her first (UAE Tour) and last (Simac Ladies Tour) races of the season, the consistent Kopecky only finished outside the top 10 in just under 19% of her 48 race days in 2024.
Pipped by Marianne Vos in Omloop, Kopecky roared back to win Strade Bianche and Danilith Nokere Koerse, expertly adding a first Paris-Roubaix title in a thrilling six-up sprint in the velodrome. If the Ardennes were a disappointment, the Belgian bounced back with victory in the Tour of Britain and a brace of national titles ahead of finishing runner-up at the Giro, where she won Stage 5.
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Kopecky times sprint to perfection to secure first-ever Paris-Roubaix Femmes victory
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Bronze behind Kristen Faulkner and Vos in a thrilling Paris 2024 road race was followed by further glory in the Tour de Romandie, European Championships ITT and then – for a second year running – the Worlds in Zurich. She even managed to chuck in a silver medal in the Gravel Worlds ahead of her Simac Tour triumph to cap another masterclass.
Rewarded with a new three-year contract at SD Worx, Kopecky should find herself with even more options now that Demi Vollering has switched sides.
2. Remco Evenepoel (Up 3)
Results: Olympic Games TT and road race double, World TT title, third in Tour de France, runner-up in Paris-Nice and Il Lombardia
The Belgian amassed fewer wins in 2024 than his previous years but the calibre of those wins was very high as the 24-year-old confirmed his status as a genuine GC contender in Grand Tours.
Over half of Evenepoel’s victories this season came against the clock – starting in the Volta ao Algarve before growing to a crescendo (via TT triumphs in the Criterium and in his debut Tour) that culminated with the first half of his Olympic double and the retention of his rainbow jersey in Zurich.
Other highlights included a win in Nice on the last day of the Race to the Sun to secure a runner-up spot behind Matteo Jorgenson. And there could have been more had Evenepoel not been caught up in the bad crash in the Basque Country that thwarted Vingegaard’s season.
Although he finished more than nine minutes down on Pogacar in the Tour, Evenepoel never dropped out of the top three from the second day onward and took home far more in terms of lessons learned and obstacles safely navigated than the sum of his single stage win and third place on the podium.
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'An iconic image' - Evenepoel with memorable celebration after sealing double gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
In a season where Pogacar took so many of the plaudits, Evenepoel ensured that – in the Slovenian’s absence in Paris 2024 – he made all the headlines with his masterful performance in the Olympic road race. No one will forget the sight of the Belgian standing upon the Pont d’Iena, bike resting in front of him and the Eiffel Tower in the background, that’s for sure.
Things fizzled out after he successfully defended his time trial gold in Zurich, but Evenepoel still managed to finish best of the rest in the final Monument of the season. The big takeaway from another solid year is that we’re no longer talking about a two-horse race in the Tour de France because Messrs Pogacar and Vingegaard won’t be able to forget about Evenepoel from now on.
1. Tadej Pogacar (No Change)
Results: 25 victories including Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, World Championships Road Race, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia
The first Triple Crown since 1987, two Monuments, 10 Grand Tour stage wins, plus a further 10 wins – all from 57 race days. It’s fair to say that Pogacar had a season that even he probably won’t be able to better in the years to come. There’s not much more we can say about the swashbuckling Slovenian’s brilliance that has not already been said in this feature confirming his GOAT status, so let’s just admit that Pogacar’s avowal that things could get "even better" in 2025 should send shivers down the spine of his rivals.
It’s hard to see how the 26-year-old could improve for a rider who won nine of the 11 races he entered in 2024.
Victory in Milano-Sanremo would be the obvious choice, Pogacar having improved on his result on each of the last three attempts since his debut in 2020. To better his third place in 2024, he’ll need things to work in his favour – either with an early attack on the Cipressa, or an attack on the Poggio that definitively drops his faster-finishing rivals.
If Paris-Roubaix remains something for further down the line, Pogacar could well complete the Grand Tour grand slam next year if he decides to swap the Giro for the Vuelta on his program. And the defence of both his Tour title and rainbow jersey in Rwanda will be high on his priorities.
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Pogacar’s Top 5 moments from his third Tour de France win
Video credit: TNT Sports
Scarily for his rivals – and for Mark Cavendish, whose 35 Tour stage wins are not out of reach from the man who already has 17 – Pogacar finished second on two occasions in both the Giro and the Tour, so there is certainly room for improvement there…
Even scarier is the fact that Pogacar ended his season with seven wins from his last eight race days – a ridiculous feat even for a talent as consistent as his.
If Dua Lipa or Simone Biles can attribute their success this year to manifesting – that’s to say, dreaming or willing something into existence – then Pogacar simply turned up and let it happen. Not only did his dreamy riding have fans in raptures, but he also manifestly became part of his rivals’ nightmares. It’s going to take a lot to wake them up from the torment in the years to come.
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Those who narrowly missed the cut
Perhaps his portrayal as an uber-villain in a recent documentary tainted our judgement in not placing Jasper Philipsen in the list. After all, the Belgian’s maiden Monument victory at Milano-Sanremo was one of nine wins, including three at the Tour de France. But, then again, Philipsen finished second more often than he did first in 2024, for which he must be held accountable.
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Watch highlights as Philipsen pips Matthews for Milano-Sanremo glory
Video credit: TNT Sports
Switzerland’s Marc Hirschi may also feel aggrieved to have missed out after his run of five one-day victories on the bounce in the wake of his Czech Tour overall win. The 26-year-old notched the same number of wins as Philipsen and will swap UAE Team Emirates for Tudor Pro Cycling with a spring in his step and a desire to continue his upward trajectory after a few years in the relative wilderness.
Having done the Ronde-Giro double, Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini had a good case for inclusion – although perhaps not as solid as Poland’s Kasia Niewiadoma. Although the 30-year-old notched just two wins all year, they came in the Fleche Wallonne and the Tour de France Femmes, where she held on to beat Demi Vollering by four seconds for a career-changing triumph.
Fourth in Strade Bianche, runner-up in Flanders and fifth in Liege all underline Niewiadoma’s consistency. If she can build on this breakthrough season in 2025, a place in the top 10 is not beyond the 30-year-old Canyon SRAM rider. Finally, it’s fair to say that, of all the upcoming female riders, Britain’s Cat Ferguson (Movistar) impressed the most, with 14 wins in total including a Worlds double in the Junior category.
What about those absent from last year’s top 10?
Belgians Philipsen (10th in 2023) and Wout van Aert (9th) both won three Grand Tour stages this year, but neither make the cut. The Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter, for reasons already explained, and his Visma-Lease a Bike colleague primarily because injuries and two lay-offs hindered him from reaching the lofty heights to which we have become accustomed.
A victory in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne sandwiched by two podium finishes at Omloop and E3 meant the spring was shaping up nicely for Van Aert before a nasty high-speed fall at Dwars door Vlaanderen forced him out with a fractured collarbone and several broken ribs. Van Aert was back in time for the Tour de France, where he twice finished runner-up in successive sprints.
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Van Aert produces 'piece of class' as he wins Stage 3 sprint
Video credit: TNT Sports
More frustration followed in the Olympics, where Van Aert played a support role for his compatriot Remco Evenepoel in the Road Race – although he did take a bronze medal in the TT. Three stage wins and three second places in the Vuelta saw the 30-year-old back to his best. Van Aert was in the day’s break in Stage 16 and on course for the green jersey when another spill on a wet descent forced him out and ended his season prematurely.
The season did at least end on a high note for Van Aert, who signed a contract extension that will keep him at Visma-Lease a Bike until the end of his career. Also extending for another three years is Sepp Kuss (8th in 2023) who lost his place in the list after failing to build on his Vuelta-winning heroics.
American Kuss was back in domestique mode for most of the season, although he did win the Vuelta a Burgos in August after victory in the queen stage. His 14th place in the Vuelta was the best finish for a Visma rider but over 20 minutes adrift of former team-mate Primoz Roglic.
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