With World Championship season wrapping up I thought I would end McCormick’s second season with some awards. Very creative, I know.
Young Rider of the Year
Prior Winners:
2019 Daniel Habtemichael
The team's focus remains the development of young American riders so this is a big award. This year our young riders once again featured in many breakaways without the one of them turning into a win. The best result came form the still developing, but not very young, Nathan Wilson, who took 2nd in the last stage of the Herald Sun Tour. Brandon McNulty was obviously the featured addition this year and he had some of our biggest successes with two top 10s in the Tour of America. While he is the early favorite for next year's award he was surpassed this year by a rider who didn't ride for us but for King Power. The award goes to the McCormick loanee who actually wore the KOM jersey at the Tour de France. Prior to that, coming anywhere near a TDF jersey seemed very unlikely for the team. now we dare to dream. And the winner is:
Spoiler
Thomas Revard
Domestique of the Year
Prior Winners:
2019 Mateo Frankovic
With the focus on young riders and with our leaders both being distinctly 2nd tier there was not a lot of chances for domestiques to shine. Our most senior support rider, Jakob Rathe, shined mostly when getting a chance to ride for himself. But one domestique performance does stand out. In Stage 2 of the Course de Solidarnosc this rider seized control of the peloton with a devastating 800 meter lead out and then hung on for 5th place among vastly superior sprinters. This performance was individually impressive but also seemed to wake his leader out of a half-season sprinting slumber. And what defines a great domestique more than doing what it takes to get your leader at his best? And the winner, once again, is:
Spoiler
Mateo Frankovic
Dan Holloway Rider of the Year
Prior Winners:
2019 Dan Holloway
This one is much tougher than last year. Luke Keough is not Holloway but was competent as our sprint leader, recording 4 stage wins and a points jersey. And the fact these were our only wins of the year, other than Frankovic's NC, is an argument in his favor. But if we focus on results that will be important in the team's history a different rider comes to mind. A rider who arrived under the cloud of an exchange for Holloway that one commenter described as "probably most one-sided one in Man-game history". Despite the cloud, this young American delivered a string of solid GC performances with virtually no team support, culminating in an impressive 4th place in the Tour of America, the most important race on the team's calendar. We look forward to this rider contributing for many seasons to come. The second winner of the Dan Holloway Rider of the Year is
I can imagine McNulty tearing up as he thought he had the young rider of the year award in the bag already just to see Revard crashing the award show at the moment his name was surprisingly announced. Sad story
