She also won the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana , the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Liège–Bastogne–Liège , while finishing second in the Tour de Romandie, Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders and La Flèche Wallonne . It is not surprising, then, that she also won the overall 2022 UCI Women’s World Tour, in which points are awarded for the performances in 23 road cycling competitions and then added at the end of the year. Van Vleuten easily won with 4,683 points, well ahead of the second-place finisher, Lorena Wiebes, also of the Netherlands, who had 3,830 points.
Lotte Kopecky, who won the Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche this year, came in second in the Vélo d’Or voting, with French off-road racer Pauline Ferrand-Prévot third. Van Vleuten has been both a pioneer and a role model for younger woman riders in her long career, winning the Giro Donne three times and the La Vuelta Challenge twice. She has also racked up two World Road Race and two World Time Trial championships – after she turned 35. Thanks to her durability and persistence, she has been able to race long enough to profit from the new, more prestigious races that have been organized as women’s road racing gained prominence and investors.
Evenepoel did not win the 2022 UCI Men’s World Tour. That honour went to Tadej Pogačar, with Wout van Aert finishing second and Evenepoel third. However, he had an excellent year, winning both the Vuelta a España and the World Road Race Championship […]
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