Since 2016, Voxwomen supporters have voted for their rider of the year. In 2018, after the sad passing of Sharon Laws, the prestigious award was named after her to continue her memory. Sharon was a fantastic bike rider and a member of the Voxwomen Team. She loved to watch races, see the progression of riders and discuss how races went. This award is a special way to remember her.
The two categories of the award are:
The Voxwomen Rider of the Year Sharon Laws Trophy
The Voxwomen Young Rider of the Year Sharon Laws Trophy
Cast your vote by clicking here. Votes close 3rd December!
The award’s previous winners:
2016 Megan Guarnier
2017 Annemiek Van Vleuten
2018 Coryn Labecki
2019 Annemiek Van Vleuten
2020 Lisa Brennauer, and Liane Lippert (Young Rider category)
This year’s nominees:
Annemiek van Vleuten
The 39-year-old Dutch rider from Movistar Team finishes the 2021 season atop the UCI WorldTour and UCI World Rankings.
She took side by side victories at Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the latter which she won after an impressive solo effort to the finish line. She then followed this up with winning Emakumeen Nafarroako, San Sebastian, CERATIZIT Challenge by La Vuelta and the Ladies Tour of Norway, as well as taking stage wins at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, the Ladies Tour of Norway and the CERATIZIT Challenge.
Her consistency throughout the season was further demonstrated by numerous podiums, including second place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, GP Ciudad de Eibar, Durango-Durango, the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas and Emakumeen Saria, third place at Amstel Gold, the Individual Time Trial World Championships, Navarra Classics and the European ITT Championships, and top 5s at Strade Bianche and Flèche Wallonne.
At the Olympics, she took home gold in the time trial and silver in the road race, adding to an already impressive palmarès.
Demi Vollering
The Dutch Team SD Worx rider finishes her season second in the WorldTour rankings. Her victories this year include Liège-Bastogne-Liège, La Course by Le Tour and The Women’s Tour. She also took third overall at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, second at Amstel, Brabantse Pijl, Emakumeen Nafarroako, and a series of top ten places at Strade Bianche, Ronde van Vlaanderen and the Navarra Classics.
From Strade Bianche at the beginning of March until the Navarra Classics in mid-May, she didn’t finish outside the top 10. Towards the end of the season, she went on to take fifth in the European Championships road race and seventh in the World Championships road race, whilst having several stage podium placings at the Giro d’Italia Internazionale finishing 3rd overall in the general classification.
Marianne Vos
A long dominant force in the peloton, the Dutch Jumbo-Visma rider added wins at Gent-Wevelgem and Amstel Gold to her long list of victories. This comes in addition to wins on both stage 3 and stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia, and the prologue, stage 4 and stage 5 of the Simac Ladies Tour, where she also took home the points jersey.
She backed up these performances with second at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, and second place at the World Championships road race and then immediately afterwards at Paris-Roubaix.
Other notable results this year include third at GP Oetingen and La Course by Le Tour, as well as fifth in the Olympic road race, and top tens at Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Dutch national road race championships.
Anna van der Breggen
Retiring at the end of the 2021 season, Anna van der Breggen of Team SD Worx made the most out of her final year in the peloton, taking wins at Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Flèche-Wallonne (her seventh in a row), Gran Premio de Eibar followed straight afterwards by Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria. She also added a second Dutch individual time trial title to her list of wins.
On her way to winning the Giro d’Italia, she took victories on stage 2 and stage 4 (TTT), as well as the points jersey. She took the leader’s jersey after winning stage 2 and was able to hold it all the way until the final day. She also won the GC at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, where she took stage 4 as well as the points and mountains jerseys.
She backed up these performances with third at Strade Bianche and third in the Olympic Games time trial, as well as a series of strong top tens, including at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Course by Le Tour.
Elisa Balsamo
Who can look past the 23-year-old World Road Race Champion from Italy. By far her biggest win so far, she already showed strong form coming into the race in Belgium, having finished second in her previous race, the Grand Prix d’Isbergues.
Other notable results include her win at GP Oetingen, and victory on Stage 6 of the Women’s Tour, after finishing second on Stage 5. Earlier in the season, she finished third at Scheldeprijs and Brabantse Pijl immediately afterwards, and adds top tens at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, the Oxyclean Classic Brugge-de Panne, Gent-Wevelgem, and Dwars door de Westhoek to her palmarès.
Lisa Brennauer
The 33-year-old German rider from CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling continued to take impressive results on both the road and track this year. She finished second in the general classification at the Healthy Ageing Tour, as well as the Ronde van Vlaanderen, where she won the bunch sprint for second. In addition, she added a fourth German time trial title, as well as a fourth road race title, to her name, while also taking out the mixed relay title at the World Championships in Flanders. She further displayed her time trialling form with third place at the European Championships and fifth at the World Championships. Other notable results include third place at Gent-Wevelgem, fourth at a memorable edition of Paris-Roubaix, sixth in both the time trial and road race at the Olympics, and top tens at Omloop het Nieuwsblad and in the World Championships road race.
Alongside these impressive results on the road, she took gold in both the Olympic, World Championships and European Championships Team Pursuit, and gold in the 3km pursuit at the World and European Championships.
Young Rider category nominees:
Emma Norsgaard
The young Danish rider from Movistar Team started her season with second place at Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Le Samyn des Dames, the Oxyclean Classic Brugge-de Panne, and Scheldeprijs, before her winning streak finally emerged at the CERATIZIT Festival Elsy Jacobs, where she took both stage 1 and stage 2, as well as all jerseys on offer (the points, youth, and general classification).
She carried this strong form onto her next race, the Internationale LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour, where she won stage 1, took second on stage 2 and 3 and went home with the young rider’s jersey.
Her next victory was the Danish time trial title, which she won for the first time in her career, and second place in the road race. At the Giro d’Italia, she won Stage 6 and took two second places.
Other notable performances this year included sixth at Paris-Roubaix, taking the young rider’s jersey at the Health Ageing Tour, and top tens at Danilith Nokere Koerse and Gent-Wevelgem, as well as in the European championships time trial.
Lorena Wiebes
The 22-year-old Dutch rider from Team DSM took her first victory at Scheldeprijs, followed by the prologue at the CERATIZIT Festival Elsy Jacobs, and the GP Eco-Struct. She then went on to take both stage 2 and stage 6 at the LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour, and won Dwars door de Westhoek and the SPAR Flanders Diamond Tour immediately afterwards, and a stage of the Lotto Belgium Tour, where she also took the young rider’s jersey.
Standout victories include her two stage wins at the Giro d’Italia, and two stage victories in a row at the Women’s Tour, where she also took the points classification. She ended her season with a win at the Ronde van Drenthe.
She also took third at Dwars door het Hageland and a top ten at the Dutch road race championships.
Niamh Fisher-Black
The 21-year-old Kiwi climber from Team SD Worx prevailed in the UCI’s Young Rider Ranking, and for good reason, having shown her climbing prowess in several tough stage races this season. This led her to take the young rider’s jersey at three stage races in a row, the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas, Ladies Tour of Norway and the Giro d’Italia. She finished within the top 10 in the general classification at the Giro d’Italia, a position which she held in the overall standings since the opening team time trial.
Charlotte Kool
The 22-year-old Dutch rider from NXTG Racing produced impressive results this season. She won stage 2a of the Baloise Ladies Tour, and later took the title at the Grand Prix International d’Isbergues, ahead of riders such as the in-form Balsamo (who went on to take the World Championship title not long afterwards), Chloe Hosking and Maria Giulia Confalonieri. She then had a strong conclusion to her 2021 season, finishing second at the GP du Morbihan Féminin and Drentse Acht van Westerveld. Other notable results this year include a top ten at Scheldeprijs.
Cast your vote by clicking here.
