Featured image of Mark Cavendish courtesy of Daniel Cole – Pool/Getty Images
Another year of road cycling comes to an end. Pink, yellow and red, five Monuments, comebacks and time trials, I must confess that my decision to focus on just stage races in 2021 was both a good and bad choice. This year has been the first full-on debut writing for It’s All Sport To Me. Looking back I would’ve liked to have written more on the Spring Classics, the five Monuments, the World Championships, Tokyo 2020 and of course the home cycling race that deserves so much attention – the Tour of Britain. Covering the three Grand Tours for 2021 has been enjoyable and for 2022 I am definitely looking forward to expand on the content for road cycling.
So who makes my top nine list of best male cyclists for 2021? What’s remarkable is who makes up the list. The young guns have made their moves on the cycling scene over recent years but for 2021 one rider was the old time veteran making an unbelievable comeback at a race that year after cannot be beaten for sporting drama.
Here’s my list.
9 – Sonny Colbrelli
Bahrain-Victorious have had a decent year and you’d think I would choose Jack Haig as their star man, the Australian crashing out of the Tour before going onto claim third overall at La Vuelta. Instead I’ve gone for another rider who has contributed to the team’s many wins this season. Only Deceunick-Quick Step, Team Jumbo-Visma, UAE-Team Emirates and the INEOS Grenadiers have picked up more victories this year than Bahrain, who have Sonny Colbreli to thank quite a lot. The 31-year-old Italian has been up hill and down dale throughout the season even when at times it did not quite pay off. Milan-Sanremo was one example where Colbrelli had to settle for a top-ten when he could have so easily taken the overall.
A stage win plus three runner-up results at the Dauphiné again showed the Italian on top form. Sonny Colbrelli can sprint but what we’ve also witnessed in 2021 is his climbing ability, something we knew he could do among the hills but not among the high Alpine and Pyrenean summits.
Overall victory at the Benelux Tour coupled with a stage win was another triumph but to make things better, victory at the European Road Championships saw Sonny Colbrelli beat Remco Evenepoel to the title.
A white jersey with the blue stripe and yellow stars across his chest, it mattered not as the best moment of Sonny Colbrelli’s season came at Paris-Roubaix. Caked in mud, not a sign of white anywhere, taking his first ever Monument was a moment of joyful cries, disbelief and emotion of pure happiness. To make things better this was Sonny Colbrelli’s Roubaix debut, an astonishing feat and we await to see what more this consistent rider of 2021 does next. A Milan-Sanremo, a Tour of Flanders and perhaps a Tour de France stage win coupled with a green jersey? No pressure Sonny!
8 – Jonas Vingegaard
Without any doubt, Jonas Vingegaard has been the breakthrough rider of 2021. You can be forgiven if you thought at the start of the year, who on earth is this kid? Who is Jonas Vingegaard? A 24-year-old rider in his third season at Team Jumbo-Visma who did help Primož Roglič overall victory at the Vuelta in 2020.
Apart from playing the super domestique in Spain to help Roglič last year, there was nothing really of note to say about this young Dane. No wins were recorded last year but to start 2021 we saw a confident attack at the UAE Tour. At the top of the Jebel Jais climb both Tadej Pogačar and Adam Yates were left for dead by Vingegaard, who? Ah yes, a Jumbo-Visma man cycling fans sort of knew, but didn’t know enough of.
Coppi e Bartali, the UCI 2.1 category race saw overall victory, a second place overall on GC at the pre-Grand Tour prep race Itzulia Basque Country was another step forward and then came the Dauphiné. Nothing special, just 51st on GC, seventh in th Stage 4 time trial and a second-place on the final mountain stage to Les Gets. Who was Jonas Vingegaard after the Dauphiné we all asked? He’s going to the Tour de France on debut to support Primož Roglič.
Until circumstances change. Nothing is certain in cycling as Roglič sadly found out on Stage 3, a crash, losing time and then falling off the pace as soon as the Alps loomed large. A departure for the Slovenian and now an opportunity for the young Dane, his leader gone, what next?
When a designated leader of a team leaves it gives others more freedom to get into breaks and attack the race. Jumbo-Visma certainly did that as Sepp Kuss managed to score victory on Stage 15 into Andorra-la-Vella, but on the whole credit must go to the way the Dutch outfit managed their Tour post-Roglič. Kuss getting a win while helping Jonas Vingegaard climb the GC standings. Only his second Grand Tour, he tackled Mont Ventoux, the Col du Portet and the Tourmalet all in one Tour at the first time of asking to finish on the podium.
Yes Jonas Vingegaard’s success was largely down to Primož Roglič’s misfortune but you take your chances, an opportunity not to be missed. The young Dane is now a superstar, a rider who can climb and can time trial too. With next year’s Tour already a key target for Primož Roglič, Jumbo-Visma do have some thinking to do for 2022. Denmark hosts the start, Jonas Vingegaard would love to be in Copehagen for the Grand Départ the objective will be clear but will he make the startlist? You’d think so but one thing is for sure, Jonas Vingegaard won’t be designated leader but for future Grand Tours this is a rider to watch.
7 – Egan Bernal
With Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič dominating the Tour and the Vuelta this year, it’s important not to forget what Egan Bernal has achieved too. The Colombian has that second Grand Tour title to his name after winning the Tour in 2019.
2020 was a year of disappointment as Bernal’s Tour defence did not go to plan but for 2021 the decision to skip the Tour and focus on the Giro-Vuelta double was in part the right decision. Egan Bernal’s victory in the Giro, still at the age of 24, does mean he can still win all three Grand Tours as the youngest rider ever to do so.
Before the Giro we saw him take third overall at Strade Bianche and in his pursuit of pink you can argue that despite one small blip in week three, nothing really troubled Egan Bernal across the three weeks. Victory on Stage 9 on the Campo Felice dirt climb saw Bernal take the maglia rosa and from then onwards that’s where he stayed, in pink, a second stage win, followed by the crowning glory after the final Milan time trial. Pink on his shoulders, back-to-back Giro d’Italia titles for the INEOS Grenadiers after Tao Geoghegan Hart in 2020, that for me is a triumph for a rider who still has so much more to give.
The only negative to include was the Vuelta, a less successful Grand Tour, not the worst Egan Bernal has ever ridden, but certainly not the best. Who was the leader Bernal or Adam Yates? That was the question fans were asking. Sixth place overall on GC, over 13 minutes behind Primož Roglič, it did prove that once again Egan Bernal was not in contention. He has these moments, and let’s not forget that even during his unexpected 2019 Tour victory, Bernal did have some off-day’s.
What lies ahead for 2022? Egan Bernal still has a long way to go if he wants to beat two Slovenian heavyweights in Roglič and Pogačar. All pointers and rumours suggest that Bernal is going to ride the Tour by skipping a Giro title defence. Bernal, Pogačar and Roglič fighting it out for the yellow jersey? A chance to see the Tour how 2020 should’ve been.
6 – Mathieu van der Poel
This man continues to be a revelatio and long may it continue! Mathieu van der Poel has enjoyed so many blistering victories this year, fewer than his friend and cyclo-cross rival Wout van Aert, which is why I’ve placed him at sixth.
The Dutchman has won three of the most breathtaking races of 2021 – Strade Bianche, where his phenomenal attack was quite simply extraordinary, Stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico where he went solo in miserable conditions and then Stage 2 of the Tour de France, where his double attack over the final climb at the Mûr-de-Bretagne saw a yellow jersey over his shoulders, something that eluded his late grandfather Raymond Poulidor.
Each of these three victories will go down as a collection of greats, the only reason I’ve put him behind Wout Van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe, who are both his Classics rivals, are what they’ve done beyond at both the Worlds and the Tour.
Mathieu van der Poel is a machine but he is also human. Bags of talent but some disappointment along the way. He cracked on the final sprint against Kasper Asgreen on his Ronde van Vlaanderen title defence, he crashed out in the Olympic mountain-bike race and couldn’t quite win Paris-Roubaix.
But take away the bad moments and what you have is a 2021 of warm congratulations for van der Poel. Strade Bianche, another Classics campaign and maybe a full complete Grand Tour added to his palmarès – that is the aim of the Dutchman next year.
5 – Julian Alaphilippe
While Julian Alaphilippe may never match what he achieved in 2019 with that unforgettable foray into the yellow jersey, his last two seasons have seen him take seven wins overall, but what makes the daredevil Frenchman a champion of 2021 is his ability to secure a second successive rainbow jersey.
Alaphilippe is a major prescence among cycling nowadays, a rider ready to attack at will, the 2018 Tour de France where he took two stages plus the polka dot jersey gave us an indication. While all eyes have been on Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, it’s fair to argue that Julian Alaphilippe’s opening stage delight in Brittany has gone under the radar. A third appearance in the maillot jaune, three times in a row, that opening stage was tailor made for an Alaphillipe attack and he delivered.
Wins also came at Tirreno-Adriatico and who knows how many more Flèche Wallonne’s he can win! A third title to his name, Alaphilippe denied Primož Roglič victory on his Mur de Huy debut, and his Ardennes Classics campaign couldn’ve got even better had Tadej Pogačar not won Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In fact La Doyenne is the one Classic he has yet to win. He has only one Monument to his name, the 2019 Milan-Sanremo.
But it’s Alaphilippe’s second rainbow jersey in a row that makes him a legend of 2021. You’d think that just one stint in yellow coupled with a single Tour stage win would lead to frustration, but actually repaying the faith shown in him by his French teammates in Leuven, Julian Alaphilippe is a rider for the ages, he roares to victory, he’s classy and I think cycling has to value him year after year more and more. We only have riders like this once. Julian Alaphilippe is riding at the peak of his powers. What next in 2022? More Monuments, more Classics and more stages at the Tour? I wouldn’t bet against it!
4 – Primož Roglič
I’ve mentioned in my piece on how he won the Vuelta that despite all the downsides of 2021, Primož Roglič did make cycling history in Spain.
Because I’ve written so much about him this year, I’ll keep this one short! Exceptional. That’s the one word I can use to describe Primož Roglič, who will now be the rider who secured a third successive Vuelta red jersey for just the third time in cycling history.
Yet despite the Vuelta triumph, 2021 has not been kind to Primož Roglič, the aim this year was to try and make amends for the last gasp capitulation he suffered at the Tour in 2020. Crashes are horrific and this year for the Slovenian they’ve been devastating. All that preparation and sacrifice for the Tour, only to tumble on Stage 3, suffer from the injuries and fall from grace as soon as the fight for yellow reached the high mountains.
Before the Tour even began we saw a glimpse of Primož Roglič crashing on the deck to leave him disappointed. Overall victory at Paris-Nice on the final day gone, then came Tour de France disaster. It happen. This is cycling. This is sport. Yet there seems to be a pattern with Primož Roglič. Crashes here, there and everywhere. When the pressure becomes high it always seems as though Primož Roglič is the first one to fall.
Perhaps I’m being too harsh. Away from the negatives, it has been another brilliant year for Roglič. A hat-trick of wins at Paris-Nice showed him to be in top form, he also added Itzulia Basque Country to his list of achievements and then in the late Spring he very nearly added Flèche Wallonne on debut.
What I do admire about Primož Roglič is his ability to bounce back after disaster. The Vuelta was the prime example but also riding to Olympic time trial gold in Tokyo has to be seen as a huge step forward. It sends out a message that I’m back and raring to go, I’m ready to get back on my bike and amend all the wrongs.
Wins at two Italian Autumn Classics in the Giro dell’Emilia and Milano-Torino should also be seen as a treat, but the big question for 2022 is the Tour. Three Vuelta wins overall in a row are by no means easy, but one yellow jersey left to go and Primož Roglič is a cycling great. The only problem he is this pesky younger fellow countryman who looks unstoppable. Tadej Pogačar has beaten him twice to Tour de France glory. Others such as Egan Bernal will have a say, but right now if the pecking order stays the same, Pogačar is now the one obstacle blocking Primož Roglič from becoming Tour de France champion.
3 – Mark Cavendish
It was a lifeline from Patrick Lefevere to give Mark Cavendish a chance to return to a race where already 30 stage wins had been and gone.
After taking wins at the Tour of Turkey and the Tour of Belgium, that still didn’t mean a guaranteed place at the Tour. Fabio Jakobsen was on the mend, the previous year’s green jersey winner Sam Bennett was also in contention, it was looking ambitious to say the least if Mark Cavendish would return to sprint in France. Yet the opportunity arose and now we’re talking about the ‘Manx Missile’ – who never gave up after all the mental and physical stress he’s been under – as a rider who’s equalled Eddy Merckx’s stage record.
A feel-good summer? Absolutely. Mark Cavendish didn’t quite beat the all-time record, yes the sprinting field wasn’t the strongest the Tour has ever seen, but put that aside and we have an uplifting, magical and unbelievable moment in cycling history. The story of Mark Cavendish, the sprinter who never gave up, a dream to even make the race, the faith given to him by Lefevere – in Fougères, Châteauroux, Valence and Nîmes (all places where Cav has won before), we witnessed four history making stage wins and a green jersey come Paris to make it even sweeter!
Greatest sporting comeback? To claim four more stages after all the sacrifice and hard work, not knowing if a place in the team was nailed on, as well as getting over the mountains to make it to Paris? I’d say it’s the king of all comebacks by a cyclist who even before the 2021 Tour was a hero to many. And now? History maker, the greatest sprinter in Tour de France history.
Can Mark Cavendish beat the record next year? The 2022 Tour begins in Copenhagen, the Danish capital where Cavendish became world champion in 2011. Who would be wise enough to dismiss Cav’s chances to make it 35 stage wins next year? A new contract at Quick Step agreed, it’s not correct to say that if a new fresh Fabio Jakobsen does get the nod over Cav it’s a disaster. Mark Cavendish sees these new kids in cycling making their own special memories as his new icons. You don’t get young, you get old. Whatever happens at the Tour next year, 34 wins and counting – that is one hell of an achievement.
2 – Wout van Aert
Just like Julian Alaphilippe, we’ve witnessed an all-round performance of epic proportions from Wout van Aert this year.
An impressive three stages and overall at the Tour of Britain in September was just the conclusion to what has been a brilliant season for the Belgian. Three stage wins at the Tour de France where each was different.
Victory over Mont Ventoux twice was something we hadn’t come to expect from Wout van Aert. Climbing mountains! I thought this man was a sprinter, time trialist and Classics man! But no, climbing one of the Tour’s most fearsome summit and then descent to the finish in style, Stage 11 of the 2021 Tour will go down as one of the greatest ever in my view.
Then came the Stage 20 time trial around the vineyards of Bordeaux between Libourne and Saint-Émilion. Triumph against the clock, a win that made up for van Aert’s sad end to the Tour two years previous when he crashed out on the Stage 13 TT. To cap it off, a sprint victory to deny Mark Cavendish the opportunity to break Merckx’s record on the Champs-Élysées. I’m sure Eddy had the champagne ready to celebrate with him aftewards!
2021 did see a few near misses. Third at Milan-Sanremo, sixth at the Tour of Flanders and seventh at Paris-Roubaix were all areas to improve upon, but then again we are talking about a rider who does have a Milan-Sanremo to his name as well as a Strade Bianche. A silver medal in the Olympics road race plus the World Championship elite time trial probably left a sour taste in the mouth, particularly the TT on home roads into the centre of Bruges but what can you do against Filippo Ganna!
Winning Amstel Gold by the width of a tyre against Tom Pidcock can also be seen as a highlight but for me it’s the trio of Tour stage wins that makes me conclude Wout van Aert as one of the greatest in 2021. What has made this year so special is the mix of new fresh talent that made cycling so exciting to watch plus the comeback of Mark Cavendish too. Young and old, it’s not often you see old guns racing alongside the young kids in their 20’s who Mark Cavendish so publicly admires. Wout van Aert is one of these inspiring figures Cav has sung the praises of this year and rightly so. That’s unique whilst we never thought the ‘missile’ could ever achieve what he has in 2021 but definitely expected van Aert to do so with his eyes shut.
1 – Tadej Pogačar
First rider in 48 years to win two Monuments and a Grand Tour, first rider in 42 years to win the Tour and Il Lombardia and first rider in 34 years to win Il Lombardia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège – all of this within the same season!
I’m running out of superlatives for this rider and it is hardly surprising as to why he’s for me the best male rider of 2021 and it’s not just because he’s the UCI World Number One, forget that! The signs were already in plain view that Tadej Pogačar’s year was going to be great. The UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico – before adding the Tour of Slovenia and La Doyenne later in the spring set things off. A slight hishap to finish third overall at Itzulia Basque Country did leave a tasty feeling in the mouth for a Tour de France, only his third Grand Tour would you believe and expected to be a thrilling battle between Slovenia’s two cycling supremos!
Roglič’s early crash put him out of contention as Pogačar, having stormed the first time trial, effectively sealed the deal on the first major mountain stage in Alps. Climbing through the field among the glory rain and mist on the road to Le Grand-Bornand, it was a master stroke of genius with nobody able to reply. Back-to-back wins in the Pyrenees was nothing short of dominant before Pogačar went on to become the first Tour winner to take an Olympic medal in the road race after securing bronze in Toyko.
To make things even better we got another reminder as to why Tadej Pogačar has been the best rider of 2021. Il Lombardia, the fifth of the five Monuments, taken by him ahead of Quick Step’s Fausto Masnada. The new Eddy Merckx? It’s hard to argue with no for an answer. 2022? A third successive Tour de France? Going for a third career Monument at the Tour of Flanders. The guy can win on any terrain as evident from a brief appearance at the end-of-season cyclo-cross campaign. Victory at Ciklokros Ljubljana on Boxing Day, what more can this man conquer?
How many Tours can he win? The Slovenian cycling scene is something to admire and for sure in 2022 they should be cheering another yellow jersey in Paris.
Any other notable mentions?
- João Almeida – after a stint in the pink jersey last year, Quick Step’s desire to put Remco Evenepoel as their Giro GC contender for 2021 didn’t go to plan. Instead we got the Portuguese climber performing to a similar level to 2020. A sixth placed finish overall, Almeida should be proud for what he’s achieved this season and next season it’s all change as he’s moving to UAE-Team Emirates. A chance for genuine team leadership in Italy? joão Almeida should be considered as a threat to the GC.
- Matej Mohorič – two stage wins at the Tour de France after crashing out at the Giro deserves praise. Slovenian road champion for another year, the only thing missing from his achievements list is a Classic. 8th at Amstel Gold and 10th at Liège–Bastogne–Liège means there’s something to improve upon in 2022.
- Kasper Asgreen – if winning Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 202 by a margin of three seconds was epic then how about something ‘small’ like the Tour of Flanders to Kasper Asgreen’s palmarès! Victory at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic plus the beating of Mathieu van der Poel to take his first-ever Monument, the Dane is Classics man personified. A part of Mark Cavendish’s leadout at the Tour too, you can always rely on Asgreen to deliver when it matters.
- Jasper Stuyven – the ‘chocolatier from Flanders’ because he and his uncle Ivan run a small chocolate boutique, Jasper Stuyven’s 2021 was made all the more sweeter with his first Monument victory at Milan-Sanremo. With 3 km’s to go, attacking right at the bottom of the Poggio, it was a masterful way to win on the Via Roma. Resplendent in Trek-Segafredo white, Stuyven will be hoping for more next year.
- Giacomo Nizzolo – a first Grand Tour stage win in his career after eleven previous second-place Giro finishes, Nizzolo made his own personal history this year and in 2022 he’ll be hoping for more!
- Damiano Caruso – he arrived at the Giro as Mikel Landa’s key mountain domestique for Bahrain-Victorious and then the Spaniard crashed out. Damiano Caruso left to go it alone and as the race ticked away, the performances grew, and for the first time in his career, a stage win at his home Grand Tour. 1 minute 29 seconds behind Egan Bernal to finish second overall, a terrific achievement for a rider who has sacrificed himself for others over the years.
All that remains to be said is Happy New Year and bring on more cycling writing for 2022!