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UCI opens public vote for five new awards ahead of first Cycling Gala in Benidorm
Fans will choose five award winners from UCI shortlists, with the results revealed at the first UCI Cycling Gala in Benidorm on 9 December.
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UCI
UCI president David Lappartient says the governing body wanted to give fans a voice in recognising the best of the 2026 road season, as public voting opened on Wednesday for the new UCI Fans’ Choice Awards.
Fans have until 23:59 CET on 1 December to vote in five categories: feat of the year, sprinter of the year, climber of the year, youth performance of the year and domestique performance of the year. The winners will be announced live at the UCI Cycling Gala at the Centro Cultural de Benidorm on 9 December.
“Riders write the story of every season, but it is among the fans, at the roadside and in front of their screens, that it truly resonates,” Lappartient said in a UCI statement. “It was only natural to give them a voice.”
Voters cannot put forward their own nominees. The UCI has drawn up a closed shortlist of ten riders for each award, five women and five men, and fans pick one rider per category from those names. Each award has a single winner across both pelotons, decided solely by the public vote.
The categories range from a single day to a whole season. Feat of the year rewards the most remarkable individual performance in one race, while the sprinter and climber awards cover a rider’s season in their speciality. The youth award is limited to performances in WorldTour and Women’s WorldTour races, and the domestique award goes to the rider judged to have served their team in the most remarkable way.
Votes are cast at ucicyclinggala.com, where fans must register and choose a rider in all five categories. Ballots with fewer than five choices will not be counted.
The fan awards sit alongside the gala’s main business. The UCI announced in July that the event, to be held every year, will honour the leading riders, teams and nations in the men’s and women’s UCI World Rankings. On the men’s side, that means Tadej Pogačar, who finished as world number one for the sixth consecutive season despite not racing after the Vuelta a España.
The ceremony will be shown live on television in Europe and on the UCI’s YouTube channel.
“The rankings tell us who was strongest,” Lappartient said. “The UCI Fans’ Choice Awards will tell us which moments meant the most to the public.”
