July 17, 2023, 5:11 PM
July 17, 2023, 5:11 PM
The Golden Bicycle trophy will be awarded for the first time during a ceremony on October 24, like the Ballon d’Or, Jérôme Cazadieu, editor-in-chief of the newspaper L’Équipe, told AFP on Monday.
“We are going to do a ceremony like the Ballon d’Or. The Bicicleta de Oro is the oldest trophy in cycling, which is legitimized, like the Ballon d’Or, by voting, since journalists from all over the world choose the winners,” he said.
Awarded every year since 1992 by the specialized magazine Vélo Magazinewhich belongs, like L’Equipe, to the Amaury Média press group, the trophy was won last year by the Belgian Remco Evenepoel in the men’s category and by the Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten in the women’s category.
Until now, its delivery has been practically confidential and the group’s desire is to “give it more visibility” and to make it “one of the growth engines of Vélo Magazine”, explains Jérôme Cazadieu.
“We have a trophy that is of great value, but we haven’t worked a lot on it”, Add. “We want to make it grow at the same time as cycling. Cycling has been in a period of transformation and internationalization for a decade, which is now materializing with an exceptional generation of runners.”
On this occasion, six trophies will be awarded in total: Men’s (International), Women’s (International), Best Men’s Classics Rider, Best Women’s Classics Rider and two non-gender awards: Best French Road Rider and Best French Non-Road Rider (Track, BMX, VTT).
The ceremony will take place on October 24 at the Pavillon Gabriel in Paris, on the eve of the presentation of the route of the Tour de France 2024.