UCI has released the 2021 Driver of the Year rankings, which reveal the world's top male and female drivers.
The riders on the list are basically expected, and this season they have performed well, occupying the top seats in the list after harvesting a large number of points in various major events.
At the same time as the drivers' rankings are published, the UCI also publishes the national points rankings, while the single-day and stage rankings only publish the men's points rankings.
There is a driver who has won the double number one in the world and stage rankings, and this driver has shown a terrifying dominance on the field this year, and as for who I think everyone has the answer, yes, he is Tadej Poga ar. He has been even better this season than in 2020, winning five World Tour titles for the Emirates team (including his second Tour de France) and two of the five Classics (The Tour de Lombardy and Liege).
Not only that, but the Slovenian 23-year-old driver also won the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico and some Slovenian races, finishing in the top ten of the Tour of the Basque Country several times and finally finishing on the podium in the third overall result. These outstanding records led him to dominate the table with 5363 points and 3423 points in the individual world rankings and stage rankings.
Jumbo-Visma has also achieved great results this year, with Primo Rogli making both lists, with Wout van Aert ranking second in the UCI Men's Individual World with 4,382 points and Roglitch third with 3,924 points.
In the stage table, Roglic finished second with 2499 points, and Tour Elaus champion Egan Bernal finished third for Ineos Grenadiers with 2187 points.
Van Alter, who topped the single-day rankings with 3,016 points, has been unusually consistent this season, winning the Gent-Wevelgem and Amstel Gold Races and finishing in the top five and top ten in the major single-day races.
World champion Julian Alaphilippe from Deceuninck-Quick-Step came in second with 2,523 points, earning his only top three spots on these lists, while Pogacha, who performed well in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia, finished third with 1915 points. Occupied another top three spot on the leaderboard.
In the women's leaderboard, Dutch driver Annemiek van Vleuten from Movistar showed extraordinary dominance, dominating the sole women's leader with a huge margin of nearly 1600 points in second place with 5053.33 points. Van Fleurten won the UCI Women's World Tour, an independent event second only to the top event, and led second-place Wicks Team (SD Worx) by more than 600 points.
Italian national champion Elisa Longo-Borghini from Trek-Segafredo scored a total of 3,485 points, narrowly beating third-place driver (3,378 points), the famous driver of Jumbo-Visma, Marianne Vos.
In the men's individual standings, Alpecin-Fenix's Mathieu van der Poel unsurprisingly became the highest-ranked intercontinental pro driver, finishing seventh with 2461 points. Voss finished third in the charts as the highest-ranked intercontinental pro team driver in the women's individual rankings.
In the national points table, men's and women's are also different, with Belgium topping the men's group with a score of 14349.33 points, while the Netherlands topping the women's group with 16147.99 points.
With the blessing of several super-big men such as Pogacha, Roglic and Moholic (Bahrain Victory), Slovenia naturally surpassed the old cycling powers such as France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to achieve the second place in the men's national rankings.
In the women's category, Italy finished second in the national table with the likes of Elisa Balsamo of soon Trek-Segafredo and Longo Borghini. Denmark also took the third spot in the table with the likes of Mobile Star's Emma Norsgaard and FDJ's Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig.
The United Kingdom finished seventh in the women's national list this time, and Lizzie Deignan from Trirk's team was instrumental in winning the inaugural Women's Paris-Roubaix race, contributing most of her points to the British rankings.
UCI Men's Individual World Rankings 2021
1. Tadai Bogacha (Slovenia) Emirates Team, 5363 points
2. Walter van Alte (Belgium) Jumbo Racing Team, 4382 points
3. Primoc Roglic (Slovenia) Jumbo Team, 3924 points
4. Julian Alafipe (France) Brisk Racing, 3104.67 points
5. Egan Bernal (Colombia) Ineos, 2576 points
UCI Women's Individual World Rankings 2021
1. Anne Mick Van Fleurten (Netherlands) Mobile Star Team, 5053.33 points
2. Alyssa Longo Borgini (Italy) Trico Team, 3485 points
3. Marianna Voss (Netherlands) Jumbo Racing Team, 3378 points
4. Demi Wolleline (Netherlands) Wicks, 3343.33 points
5. Anna van der Bregen (Netherlands) Wicks, 2732 points
UCI Men's Stage Leaderboard 2021
1. Tadai Bogacha (Slovenia) Emirates Team, 3423 points
2. Primoc Roglic (Slovenia) Jumbo Racing Team, 2499 points
3. Egan Bernal (Colombia) Ineos, 2187 points
4. João Almeida (Portugal) Brisk Racing, 1771 points
5. Jonas Wengergao (Denmark) Jumbo Racing Team, 1545 points
2021 UCI Men's Day Match Leaderboard
1. Walter van Alto (Belgium) Jumbo Racing Team, 3016 points
2. Julian Alafipe (France) Brisk Racing, 2523 points
3. Tadai Bogacha (Slovenia) Emirates Fleet, 1915
4. Matthew van der Poole (Netherlands) O'Betaine Team, 1836 points
5. Sony Colbelli (Italy) Bahrain - Victory Team, 1705 points
UCI Men's National Rankings 2021
1. Belgium 14349.33 points
2. Slovenia 11993 points
3. France 11541.67 points
4. Italy 10851 points
5. UK 9960.6 points
UCI Women's National Rankings 2021
1. Netherlands 16147.99 points
2. Italy 8411 points
3. Denmark 4338.99 points
4. Germany 4212 points
5. Switzerland 4072 points
Edit: Johnny
Image source: Infographic Gallery