The Vélo d'Or prize is sponsored by the French magazine Vélo, and following a public outcry last year, a combined category and a women's category were created for the first time in the magazine's 30-year history. The new combined prize means that arguably the biggest end-of-season award in sports can be won by a woman for the first time.
Van Bruten won the Giro Donnay, the Tour de France Femme, the Serratigit Challenge by La Vuelta, and the world road race title, while Ferrand-Prevot won four different world titles in mountain biking and gravel.
Other women's Velodore contenders include Elisa Balsamo, Marta Cavalli, Audrey Cordon-Lago, Mathilde Gros, Lotte Kopecky, Juliette Labouse, Elisa Longo Borghini, and Ashley Moolman-Pasio, Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig, Demi Vollering, Marianne Voss, and Lorena Wiebes are included.
The jury of journalists nominated Van Vleuten, Ferran-Prevot, Vollering, Ganna, Voss, and the 2021 winner, Tadei Pogachar, for the cross-disciplinary and combined "Rider of the Year" award.
Men's Velodore nominees include Remco Evenpole, Hour Record holder Ganna, Giro d'Italia winner Jai Hindley, Fabio Jacobsen, track sprinter Harry Lavreisen, Pogachar, Primoz Roglic, Geraint Thomas , Wout Van Alt, Dylan van Baarle, Mathieu van der Pol, and Wingegaard are included.
Evenpole won Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Clasica San Sebastián, and Vuelta a España to win the world title in a solo attack.
Van Aert finished third in the last two events, but won three more stages in the 2022 Tour de France and was a dominant winner in the points race for the green jersey. Vinegar won his first Tour de France, breaking Pogachar's domination and giving Jumbo Visma his first Tour victory.
The winners are determined by a vote of international cycling journalists, and the winners usually grace the magazine's December issue. The final winner will be announced in late November.
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