The Vélo d’or trophy will be awarded for the first time during a ceremony on October 24, as for the Ballon d’Or, Jérôme Cazadieu, the editorial director of the team, told AFP on Monday.
“We are going to have a ceremony like on the Ballon d’Or. The Vélo d’or is the oldest trophy in cycling which draws its legitimacy as the Ballon d’Or from the voting method since it is journalists from all over the world who designate the winners, ”he said.
Awarded every year since 1992 by the specialized magazine Vélo Magazine, belonging to the same press group Amaury Média as the Team, the trophy was won last year by the Belgian Remco Evenepoel in the men’s category and the Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten in the the women.
Its allocation has been rather confidential until then and the group’s wish is to “give it more visibility” and that it be “a growth driver for Vélo Magazine”, explains Jérôme Cazadieu. “We have a trophy which is very valuable, but which we have not worked on a lot, he adds. We want to make it grow at the same time as the bike. Cycling has been in a period of transformation and internationalization for the past ten years, which is materialized today by a generation of exceptional riders.
For the occasion, six trophies will be awarded in total: world man, world woman, best men’s classic runner, best women’s classic runner, as well as two non-gendered prizes: best French road runner and best (e) French off-road rider (track, BMX, mountain bike).
The ceremony will take place on October 24 at the Pavillon Gabriel in Paris, on the eve of the presentation of the Tour de France 2024 route.
