An afternoon after arguments erupted throughout social media on whether or not Jonas Vingegaard must were declared winner of the Velo d’Or prize forward of Mathieu van der Poel or Tadej Pogačar, Van der Poel used to be named World Flandrien within the Het Nieuwsblad awards on Wednesday.
All 3 riders had a success seasons, with Van der Poel profitable Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the UCI Street International Championships street race along with his global identify in cyclocross.
Pogačar gained two Monuments: Excursion of Flanders and Il Lombardia, used to be 2nd within the Excursion de France and completed the season because the UCI #1 ranked rider. Vingegaard gained the Excursion de France, Critérium du Dauphiné and Itzulia Basque Nation and used to be 2nd to teammate Sepp Kuss on the Vuelta a España.
Van der Poel’s father Adrie van der Poel used to be on level to obtain the trophy from fellow former stars Jan Janssen, Hennie Kuiper and Joop Zoetemelk, 3 of the 4 residing former global champions.
Van der Poel permitted his award by means of video message whilst clad in his rainbow jersey, pronouncing, “It used to be an unforgettable season for me with victories in Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix, the pretty global identify at the street in Glasgow and in addition the cyclocross identify in Hoogerheide, which began the yr.
“This is a nice honour to win the World Flandrien and most likely a fair higher honour that there are 3 nice Dutch former riders in Ostend to give it. I want everybody a pleasant night time.”
Adrie van der Poel idea Tadej Pogačar deserved the Velo d’Or, and used to be once more readily available to present his enter, this time on his son’s luck and coming yr.
“Ultimate yr used to be implausible for him,” Adrie Van der Poel mentioned. “I in an instant instructed him after the Street International Championships: probably the most tough yr is now coming. I believe he has taken that under consideration and needs to start out the street season in the most productive conceivable manner.”
Pogačar, nonetheless in Japan after profitable the Saitama Criterium, additionally addressed the gala by means of video message.
“I am actually unhappy that I will not come to the World Flandrien Awards as a result of I will be able to be nonetheless in Tokyo,” he mentioned.
“I actually wish to congratulate my good friend Mathieu for this great award. It used to be a actually shut combat between me and him however he gained two monuments and International Championships and plenty of different issues. So, he actually merits and I wish to congratulate him.”