Slovenian cycling star Tadej Pogačar won the 2024 Vélo d'Or award for the best road bicycle racer of the year, conferred by the French cycling magazine Vélo Magazine. This is the second time he took home the accolade.

The three-time Tour de France winner accepted the award at a ceremony in Paris on 6 December to crown an unforgettable year, in which he failed to beat his challengers only in two races he participated in (Milan-San Remo and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec).

The 26-year-old meanwhile won the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the road race at the UCI Road World Championships to become only the third cyclist ever to win this "triple crown".

He thus joined Belgian Eddy Merckx (1974) and Irishman Stephen Roch (1987), and it was the latter who handed him the 2024 Vélo d'Or.

This season, Pogačar also won the Volta a Catalunya, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Giro di Lombardia, Strade Bianche, Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and the Giro dell'Emilia races.

The UAE Team Emirates rider is also firmly on top of the UCI men's road racing world ranking.

"I'm really happy and proud of this award. It's been an amazing year and this award is another proof that hard work pays off. I didn't expect such a year. It was really something unique," Pogačar said at the ceremony in Pavillon Gabriel.

Pogačar, who also received the accolade three years ago, said that this year's award meant more to him. "I received the first one in 2021 and I was very young then. It has grown on me since and now I feel proud to be able to receive it on this stage."

The second Vélo d'Or for the Slovenian makes him only the fourth multiple winner of the award. He joined Spaniard Alberto Contador (2007-2009 and 2014), Briton Chris Froome (2013, 2015 and 2017) and Spaniard Miguel Indurain (1992 and 1993).

Slovenian Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who received the Vélo d'Or in 2020, was also among the nominees after winning the Critérium du Dauphiné and his fourth Vuelta a Espana this year.

Pogačar also picked up the Eddy Merckx Trophy for the best rider in one-day classics. "I really didn't expect that. I'm really happy and honoured to receive this beautiful trophy," he said.