Your Rider of the Year nominations are in! And we've now drawn up our shortlists and now it's time to vote for your favourites in the Cycling Plus Rider of the Year awards, brought to you by Lezyne.
These cyclists, activists, racing legends and rising stars have been put forward for countless reasons, from charity work to organisational efforts behind the scenes, racing prowess to simply being champions of the sport we love.
While all deserving, they can’t all win, so we need your help to pick your Rider of the Year and Newcomer of the Year from the shortlist of five.
Meanwhile, our expert panel will start debating just who should get the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The vote
Have your say via our forms below. Voting is open until 11 October. Then the winners will be revealed at an exclusive awards ceremony at our Bristol HQ on 21 November and in issue 425/January 2025 of Cycling Plus, out on 22 November 2024.
Click here to check out all the winners from last year's Rider of the Year Awards!
Meet your Rider of the Year shortlist
Cess completed Chase the Sun Ireland in June, riding 210-miles in a day on a recumbent tricycle with two broken wrists after a serious accident. She already had a successful Chase the Sun finish to her name in 2023, with her significant injuries not preventing Cess from tackling the coast-to-coast challenge in 2024.
Jaco is a South African-born cyclist who competes in para-cycling track events for Great Britain. He won the Omnium C3 at the 2024 Para-Cycling Track World Champs and two gold medals at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris in the Individual Pursuit C3 and Mixed Team Sprint C1… and all this after being hit by a car in buildup to Paralympics.
Lael is an ultra-endurance rider who is currently close to finishing her 18,200-mile record-breaking attempt to be the fastest woman to cycle round the world. Wilcox has previously won the Trans Am Bike Race in 2016 and set the Tour Divide’s women's course record on an individual time trial in 2015.
Bath solicitor Andrew is a four-time National Hill Climb champion and won the title again on the infamous Struggle ascent in the Lake District in October 2023. He became the first rider to win the champs using disc brakes on his sub-6kg Cannondale SuperSix Evo.
Siraj is a Yemeni refugee, bike mechanic and ride leader. He lives in Glasgow and has been involved with Bikes for Refugees for over three years.
Meet your Newcomer of the Year shortlist
In 2024, 17-year-old Finlay took home gold at the 2024 British National Track Champs in the Team Pursuit, and junior open gold at the Youth & Junior Track Champs in the Open Madison. He also broke the record at the Ross-On-Wye & District CC TT with a 46:14min time for 25-miles. The 17-year-old Welsh rider from Ffosyffin has signed a two-year deal with Israel Premier Tech Academy.
In 2023, Illi successfully defended her British National Hill Climb Championship title. She also won the first edition of the Championnats d’Europe des Grimpeurs in 2023, which took place in Switzerland on the legendary 12,780 metre climb from Airolo to the 2,091m-high Gotthard Pass.
Emma is a Welsh track cyclist. At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, she became the first British woman to win three medals in a single Games since Mary Rand in 1964. She also won gold at the European Track Championship in 2024 in the Sprint category and scored 2023 World Championship gold for the Sprint in Glasgow.
Daisy rides for the Alba Development Road Team and won the Fred Whitton Challenge in 2024. The 24-year-old’s finishing time for the brutal 112-mile sportive was 6:47:54, some 20 minutes ahead of her nearest rival.
18-year-old Cat rides for Hope Tech Factory Racing. The versatile rider is the 2004 World Junior champion on the track for the team pursuit and the omnium, while she also won the junior national title at the British Cyclo-cross Championships in 2024 and scored silver at the 2024 UCI CX World Champs in both the women's junior race and the team relay.
