Alberto Contador to win Velo d'Or award

2014 Vuelta a Espana winner was voted for the award by a selection of international journalists

(Image credit: Graham Watson)

Alberto Contador has been chosen for the 2014 Vélo d'Or after the traditional poll of international journalists held by France's Vélo Magazine.

The honour was started in 1992 when Miguel Indurain won his first of two awards. Since then it has gone to a variety of riders: Philippe Gilbert topped off his amazing season in 2011 with the nod from the press, while Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome won in 2012 and 2013 respectively after their victories in the Tour de France.

At the end of a tumultuous year in which he spectacularly crashed out of July's Tour de France only to return to dominate and win the Vuelta a Espana, Contador becomes the first person to win the prestigious award for a fourth time (of course, only after Lance Armstrong's five wins were removed from the records).

After a very - and at times surprisingly - successful year for French cycling, Jean-Christophe Péraud saw off stiff competition to win the Vélo d'Or Français after his second place finish in the Tour de France.

The awards won't be officially confirmed until the next issue of Vélo Magazine is published later in October, with the ceremony taking place later in the year.

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Jack Elton-Walters hails from the Isle of Wight, and would be quick to tell anyone that it's his favourite place to ride. He has covered a varied range of topics for Cycling Weekly, producing articles focusing on tech, professional racing and cycling culture. He moved on to work for Cyclist Magazine in 2017 where he stayed for four years until going freelance. He now returns to Cycling Weekly from time-to-time to cover racing, review cycling gear and write longer features for print and online.