You can make a point for everybody. Does a single performance (like Kiesenhofer) justify a win? You could argue that, as it was on the olympus of sports, but it also was a "one-off" and we don't if it was more of her own strength or the opponents weakness. For a Surprise Ride of the year that would be it (competing with Vermeerschs' 2nd at Paris-Roubaix), but for surprise rider it wasn't enough for me as you have to look at a full season. There it's Cav vs. Vingegaard for me (cause Colbrelli was too good already). I'd have never imagined Cav coming back like this, but I think Vingegaards performance was of greater individual quality due to rarely having team support while you could argue that Morkov won most of Cavs stages for him and his biggest competitors got taken out.
Anna Kiesenhofer was more of a fluke one off performance than a "surprise" rider of the year. She rode off the front and due to lack of radio's in the race the others weren't even aware she was away until it was too late. It was a great achievement, and it was a surprise result. But I think there is a difference between surprise result and surprise rider of the year.
Of the others, if you would have listed their achievements during the season at the start of the season, it would have been Cavendish who's achievements would have surprised you most.
Colbrelli is a World Class rider capable of winning big races. He won some big races this year, but it's not a major surprise.
Vingegaard is the closest in terms of being an actual surprise as he hasn't really had any major results previously. But he is an up and coming rider who is generally thought of as a future GT contender/winner. This year he started to show his potential, but that potential was already well known, so again, not as big a surprise. You could argue that Damiano Caruso's 2nd place at the Giro was just as big a surprise as Vingeraard's 2nd at the Tour.
Cavendish has been written off after several years of poor form and illness. He was 35 at the start of the season (36 at the Tour) and was on the brink of retirement until Quickstep offered him a last minute deal to fill up their roster. His performances this season have been the most surprising, hands down.
Edited by ringo182 on 20-01-2022 14:05
"Ringo is exactly right", Shonak - 8 September 2016
I already gave Colbrelli my vote for Rider of the Year. He was surprisingly one of the best, but he's also been on an upward trajectory a while, and Bahrain is part of the equation. So not quite an "out of nowhere" surprise.
So, it's gotta be Cav for me here. I had entirely written him off. I thought he was done. Done done. If you made me bet at the beginning of last year which was more likely for 2021 - that Cav would win 4 TDF stages, or he would never ride a bike professionally again - I would have put every cent I have ever earned on him retiring. It wouldn't even be questionable to me.
The fact that he came back at all was intriguing. The fact that he rode the TDF was surprising. The fact that he was a competent sprinter was really surprising. The fact that he won a Tour stage was shocking. And the fact that he won FOUR stages was simply unreal. Regardless of the competition level he faced, his comeback is far and away the most surprising thing I've ever seen as a cycling fan.
So that's my vote.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
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