Cyclist
The 50 best men’s road cyclists of the 2020s so far
Just like that, the 2020s have reached their halfway point. In men’s road cycling, the opening five seasons of the 2020s have been filled with fresh faces, stratospheric achievements and new records.
The 2020s have seen Tadej Pogačar grow into one of the greatest cyclists of all time. With his debut Tour de France victory in 2020, it feels like a page was turned. Likewise, the unique talent of Remco Evenepoel has shot into the limelight, winning Monuments, rainbow jerseys and Olympic golds. Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel have also waltzed onto the road scene this decade after spending their formative years doing cyclocross. These riders, however, are just a handful of those who have shaped the sport over the past five seasons.
As we did for the women’s peloton last week, here we will be ranking our top 50 men’s riders of the decade so far. This will be weighed up using road results alone. We’ll back this up by analysing Grand Tour performances, WorldTour feats and UCI points accumulated over the past five seasons, stretching back to the strange 2020 season.
With that, kick back and prepare yourself for our top 50 riders of the 2020s so far.
50. Kasper Asgreen
The first rider on our list is Monument winner Kasper Asgreen.
The Dane has been a consistent presence at the front of the peloton, in breakaways and on the steep cobbled climbs of Belgium throughout the past few seasons. After a strong 2020 campaign, he improved on his form to chart his best season to date in 2021. After a relentless win at the E3 Prijs, Asgreen followed this up with a surprising win at the 2021 Tour of Flanders. On that day, the Quickstep rider toppled both Van der Poel and Van Aert at the race they have tamed to such great avail in recent years.
After playing his role in the leadout for Fabio Jakobsen and Mark Cavendish over the years, Asgreen claimed his own Tour stage victory at the 2023 Tour de France. This is still his only Grand Tour stage win to date.
Some patchy form has prevented him from sustaining his record in the Classics. However, he has just signed a new contract with EF Education-EasyPost for 2025. Let’s hope he gets back to winning ways at the pink team.
49. Brandon McNulty
You might be surprised to see Brandon McNulty make this list. However, there’s a lot to praise to be sung when looking at the American’s palmarès.
Firstly, McNulty has two Grand Tour stages to his name, one from the breakaway at the Giro d’Italia and one prologue victory at the Vuelta a España.
The Arizonan has taken a couple of big WorldTour stage wins, particularly over the past three seasons. McNulty has also worn the leader’s jersey at a plethora of top-level races such as Paris-Nice, the UAE Tour and the Vuelta. McNulty has GC capabilities as well, with an overall title at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana on his palmarès. Don’t forget his role as domestique for Pogačar, particularly in the earlier part of the decade.
Is that enough to justify his place in this ranking? If you’re still not convinced, McNulty has been in the top 50 of the UCI rankings over the past three seasons.
48. Magnus Cort
Magnus Cort is a real jack of all trades. Able to climb well, sprint with some of the fastest and master a breakaway day, Cort has been a prolific winner so far in the 2020s, even despite lacking a top-level GC, time-trial or sprinting skillset. In essence, he’s been one of the most effective racers in the bunch.
Anchoring this claim, Cort has won stages at all three Grand Tours during the 2020s. In fact, he’s won six stages in total, all on different terrain and from different situations.
On top of these Grand Tour successes, Cort has scooped up some other stages at the Critérium du Dauphiné and Paris-Nice, for example. The thorn in his side is still one-day racing, but otherwise he refuses to be categorised quite as plainly as other riders on this list.
47. Lennard Kämna
Lennard Kämna has become one of the most cunning breakaway riders in the current men’s peloton. The German has completed a trilogy of Grand Tour stages during the 2020s, all from the breakaway. He’s carried this expertise over to other stage races, with wins at the Volta Catalunya, Critérium du Dauphiné and the Vuelta a Andalucia.
The German has been toying with the idea of going for GC. He’s seen some success in this realm, with a top ten overall at the 2023 Giro and a couple of solid stage race results. Otherwise, Kämna has also served as a teammate for his Bora-Hansgrohe leaders. Notably, he dropped Richard Carapaz whilst towing for Jai Hindley on Stage 20 of the 2022 Giro d’Italia.
After a very successful bout at Bora-Hansgrohe, the breakout specialist will move over to Lidl-Trek in the new year.
46. Guillaume Martin
OK, hear me out.
Guillaume Martin has been one of the most captivating riders of the 2020s – that’s for sure. The Norman has certainly left his mark on the Grand Tours during his time on the UCI WorldTour level. His now-characteristic game of GC snakes and ladders has become a formality. It’s led him to become a perennial feature of Grand Tour top 15s.
Now, that might sound like I’m clutching at straws, but Martin has finished inside of the top ten of the Tour twice and the Vuelta once. You might not be convinced still, but remember that he won the polka-dot jersey at the November Vuelta in 2020.
Have I mentioned that he has a new book out?
45. Giulio Ciccone
Giulio Ciconne is a unique figure in the peloton. Although he’s often visible towards the front of races, he doesn’t slot into a specific rider type. If I have to categorise him, I’d say he’s a breakaway climber. That said, he doesn’t swerve away from a GC bid.
In his role as a breakaway escape artist, Ciccone won a stage of the 2022 Giro d’Italia up in the Valle d’Aosta. After a week of attacking in the Alps, the Italian added a Tour de France polka-dot jersey to his collection in 2023.
Ciconne is a vibrant rider who doesn’t shy away from attacking the head of the race. This spirit has yielded some WorldTour stage wins at the Volta Catalunya and Critérium du Dauphiné. This year he poached a podium at Il Lombardia, adding a prestigious one-day result to his palmarès.
44. Mattias Skjelmose
Since 2022, Mattias Skjelmose has emerged as a fiery package in the hills.
The Dane has a major UCI WorldTour stage race victory to his name with the 2023 Tour de Suisse, plus a Grand Tour white jersey. The 24-year-old from Copenhagen has also won a stage at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Suisse. In his brief time on the WorldTour level, he’s left quite the impact on one-week races.
He’s often one of the most explosive riders in the bunch over short and steep climbs. This strong suit helped him to secure a runners-up spot at the 2023 Flèche Wallonne and the overall victory at the 2023 Tour de Luxembourg.
43. Tom Pidcock
Before I unpack Tom Pidcock, I want to clarify that this ranking is focussed on road results only. For this, we need to park Pidcock’s Olympic success and cyclocross rainbow jersey to one side. With that out of the way, let’s dive in.
Pidcock is a unique rider. He’s skilled on multiple terrains and different races, varying between hills, cobbles and mountains. Of course, his victory atop Alpe d’Huez at the 2022 Tour was a real coming of age on the road. Elsewhere, his record in one-day races features some heavyweight race trophies – notably in the form of Brabantse Pijl, Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold Race. These were all done in impressive manner, especially his Strade Bianche win in 2023 which saw the Yorkshireman break free over a downhill gravel sector. To add extra prestige to this list, Pidcock has climbed onto the podium of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
However, the British rider’s real inconsistency and lack of GC results – despite his bullish promise – hold him back from climbing further up this list.
42. Neilson Powless
Neilson Powless has been an omnipresent figure in stage races and Classics throughout the 2020s.
Powless has finished inside the top ten of Paris-Nice, Tour of Flanders, the UCI Road World Championships and Milan-San Remo for instance. He’s the kind of rider who can take to anything. He’s used this to great avail on some hilly one-day races with a WorldTour win at Klassikoa in 2021 and second-division wins at the Gran Piemonte and La Marseillaise.
In the past couple of Tours de France, the Nevadan has been found in the breakaways on numerous occasions. At the 2023 Tour, he even wore the polka-dot jersey for much of the race. If it weren’t for Pogačar, he would have worn the yellow jersey in 2022.
Powless is yet to win a Grand Tour stage. Surely, his time will come soon.
41. Tao Geoghegan Hart
I hear you scoffing, but I think this is a fair placement for the winner of the Covid autumnal Giro.
Tao Geoghegan Hart won two stages of the that 2020 Giro on top of the overall crown. This was a shock at the time, and even now it seems like a strange result. However, he’s added a couple other victories to his name since that glorious Giro, with a win at the 2023 Tour of the Alps.
Geoghegan Hart hasn’t been able to follow up his Giro victory in the years following that ride. He showed good signs of form in 2023, but the Londoner crashed out of the race during a rainy second week of racing. He recently moved to Lidl-Trek but is still missing from the top echelons of the peloton.
Proof of is this in the UCI rankings. Tao has finished inside the top 50 of the UCI leaderboard on just one occasion since 2020. He hasn’t won a WorldTour race since the Giro and he’s failed to reach the top ten of a Grand Tour since his Giro triumph.
40. Dylan van Baarle
Dylan van Baarle isn’t usually in the discussion for race victories, but he’s clocked up some pretty sizeable victories over the past few seasons. Among his big Paris-Roubaix win in 2022, Van Baarle has claimed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen. He’s also won a silver medal at the UCI Road World Championships.
His racing brain has been put to good use during the 2020s. Van Baarle has also carved out a reputation as one of the best domestiques available in the peloton. He’s helped steer Jumbo-Visma to two Grand Tour victories in 2023 after serving as Ineos’ versatile weapon during the early part of the decade.
Underrated, skilled and with an illustrious palmarès, Van Baarle is a strong addition to this list.
39. Jonathan Milan
Here’s a fun fact: Jonathan Milan is named after Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a book Milan’s mother read while pregnant.
In 2023, Milan announced his transition onto the road at the Giro d’Italia with a stage win on the second day of racing. Emulating the style of Marcel Kittel, he continued his strong form as the race progressed, using his powerhouse style to capture the maglia cicclamino in Rome.
After signing for Lidl-Trek at the beginning of the season, Milan has truly emerged as one of the most talented sprinters in the world. This year, he stepped up his level with stage wins at Tirreno-Adriatico, the Renewi Tour and the Giro d’Italia. His Lidl-Trek leadout, mostly anchored by Simone Consonni, has proved to be a winning formula this year, particularly at the Giro where he took three stages and the maglia cicclamino.
Hopefully, we’ll see Milan at the Tour de France next year. His name would surely be in the ring for a stage win and yellow jersey on the opening stage.
38. Pello Bilbao
I will always stand by Pello Bilbao. He’s a strong rider who boasts powerful legs, a good racing mindset and a kind nature.
The Basque rider is a well-drilled all-rounder who can hang with the top climbers, but can give it a good sprint in the end or a half-decent time-trial.
Bilbao won a hard-fought stage win at the 2023 Tour de France from the breakaway. This is, of course, the biggest of his stage wins, but he has also rounded up stage wins at Itzulia Basque Country, the Tour Down Under and the Tour of the Alps.
In terms of GC, Bilbao has finished inside the top ten of a Grand Tour on four occasions since 2020. The best of these performances was a pair of fifth places at the Giro d’Italia in 2020 and 2022. His results in one-week stage races are equally impressive and consistent, with podium finishes at the Tour de Pologne, Tour Down Under and the UAE Tour.
37. Stefan Küng
The UCI rankings don’t lie. Küng is a shoo-in for this list having finished well within the top 50 of the UCI rankings each year since 2020.
Küng began the decade as a thoroughbred time-trialist. He has just one Grand Tour stage to his name, but he has 13 wins against the clock since 2020. Amongst these, Küng has claimed the European title twice and two stages of the Tour de Suisse. This sells him short, however. Küng is the nearly man of time-trials during the 2020s. He has won a total of four international medals – three of which were silver.
Over time, the Groupama-FDJ rider has become a fixture of the Spring Classics as well. He’s finished inside the top ten of all major WorldTour cobbled Classics, including a podium at the 2022 Paris-Roubaix. He’s still missing a big win on the cobbles, however.
36. Carlos Rodríguez
Carlos Rodríguez has quickly risen through the ranks at Ineos Grenadiers and become the British team’s leader over the past two seasons.
In this role, Rodríguez has been sent to the Tour twice, finishing inside the top seven on both occasions. In 2023, the young Spaniard claimed a stage win to Morzine, affirming his status as one of the most promising GC talents in the bunch.
Elsewhere, Rodríguez has emerged as one of the strongest GC riders outside of the mercurial ring of A-listers. This year, the Ineos leader topped the overall standings at the Tour de Romandie, finished runner-up at Itzulia Basque Country and fourth overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné. His Grand Tour results have been steady, but he is still to make the podium. He’s only 23, so there’s still plenty of time left for him to do so.
35. David Gaudu
A lot was expected of David Gaudu when the decade began in 2020. After some impressive Tours de France spent in support of Thibaut Pinot, some dared to say that Gaudu was the next French champion in waiting.
In reality, he never quite matched those dizzying premonitions. Instead, the Breton rider has forged his own path by securing a solid collection of stage race results. Along with stage victories at Itzulia Basque Country, Tour de Romandie and the Dauphiné, Gaudu has finished on the podium of Paris-Nice and the top five of Itzulia Basque Country on two occasions.
At the Grand Tours, Gaudu has picked up two stages at the Vuelta a España. He’s also finished in the top six overall at the Vuelta, but more impressively, he finished the Tour in fourth place in 2022. Gaudu also found himself on the podium of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2021.
34. Damiano Caruso
If Damiano Caruso were a footballer, I’m sure he’d be a full-back. He’s experienced, commanding, doesn’t mind getting stuck in, and sometimes, he might even score a goal or two. He’s integral to a team, even though he doesn’t always capture the headlines.
The adopted Sicilian is one of the most underrated figures in the peloton I’d say. Often a domestique for his Bahrain Victorious teammates, Caruso has managed to slot into the top 20 of every Grand Tour he’s started since 2020.
The expereinced Italian rose to the occasion at the 2021 Giro following the abandonment of his team leader. He would finish in a respectable second place, less than two minutes behind winner Egan Bernal. Sticking on the theme of 2021 Grand Tours, Caruso would add two stage wins at the Giro and Vuelta to his palmarès, then would once again reach the top five of the Giro in 2023, proving that he could ride for his own chances more than once at the Italian three-weeker.
33. Sam Bennett
Irishman Sam Bennett was at his peak at the turn of the decade.
In 2020, he experienced a Tour de France filled with highlights that included his first Tour stage, a victory on the Champs-Elysées and the green jersey. The Munsterman would win three further stages at Vueltas over the following years.
Outside of the Grand Tours, Bennett has won stages at Paris-Nice and UAE Tour on top of one-day wins at Brugge-De Panne and Eschborn-Frankfurt. Bennett’s 24 victories have been spread out across the decade, but he hasn’t won on the WorldTour level since the autumn of 2022.
He’s not been the most consistent sprinter of the decade, but he was one of the best at his peak.
32. Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish began 2020 in tears, thinking that his career would come to an end after Gent-Wevelgem.
The Manx Missile returned to winning ways in 2021 at the Tour of Turkey before his barnstorming return to the Tour de France. There, Cavendish took four stages as well as the green jersey – ten years after his last points classification victory.
Cavendish parted with the Giro on good terms with two stage wins across the 2022 and 2023 editions, while his only non-Grand Tour win at the WorldTour level would come at the UAE Tour.
‘Project 35’ would finally come to a sparkly conclusion at the 2024 Tour de France, where Cavendish secured his place in the record books as the rider with more Tour stage wins than anyone else. That said, only 14% of his total Tour wins came this decade. That keeps him from climbing further up this list.
31. Aleksandr Vlasov
Aleksandr Vlasov burst onto the scene in 2020 and 2021 while riding for Astana. During those two pandemic-ridden seasons, Vlasov would climb onto the podium at Il Lombardia and finish fourth overall at the Giro d’Italia.
The next year, Vlasov signed to Bora-Hangrohe and led one faction of the team’s GC ambitions. He’d claim a win at the Tour de Romandie, a stage of the Tour de Suisse – which he was forced to retire from whilst wearing the leader’s jersey – before a top five finish at the 2022 Tour de France. Vlasov continued his strong streak of GC form throughout the rest of the 2020s while also performing domestique duties for new team leader
Primož Roglič.
Along the way, Vlasov has claimed stages at Paris-Nice, Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie. On top of this, he’s managed to finish inside the top seven overall at all three Grand Tours. Needless to say, he’s among the top 15 stage racers in the peloton.
The Russian is yet to take a Grand Tour stage or make the overall podium, but he’s ticked almost every other box.
30. Marc Hirschi
We all wish we could be 2020 Marc Hirschi.
The Swiss rider was phenomenal that year, winning a stage and the super-combative prize at the Tour de France before an Ardennes streak that saw Hirschi secure a Flèche Wallonne trophy and a Liège-Bastogne-Liège podium finish.
After signing for UAE Team Emirates, we rarely saw flashes of this other-worldly version of Hirschi apart from a few wins and podium finishes at races such as the Giro del Veneto, Giro della Toscana and the Gran Piemonte. Essentially, if there’s a lower-level Italian one-day race, Hirschi has been somewhere near the top ten.
In 2024, we saw glimpses of the old Hirschi, particularly during the second half of the season. To pair with his bucket loads of second and third-tier races, Hierschi claimed the Klassikoa and Bretagne Classic during the summer. This has all factored into Hirschi’s remarkable top ten finish in the UCI rankings. That’s not bad for a man who failed to make a Grand Tour startlist this year.
29. Juan Ayuso
Juan Ayuso was a teenager when the 2020 season was paused, just 17 years old at the time. The following year, Ayuso would burst onto the cycling scene with a series of impressive results at the under-23 level, notably at the Baby Giro. Some even touted him as ‘the next Pogačar’ given their resemblance on the bike.
Ayuso was picked up by UAE Team Emirates by the end of that year and he was soon funnelled into a team leader role at the stacked WorldTour squad. That same year, Ayuso made a splash at his debut Grand Tour with a podium finish overall at the Vuelta a España. This began the Ayuso hype train, that’s for sure.
Since then, the Spaniard’s palmarès has been padded out with stage wins at the Tour de Suisse, Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour de Romandie, as well as an overall win at Itzulia Basque Country. He’s continued to perform well at Grand Tours. This year, he rode in support of Pogačar at the Tour de France, but was forced to abandon due to a Covid positive.
Let’s be honest, Ayuso’s going to be hanging around near the front end of pro cycling for a while.
28. Mikel Landa
Landismo is alive in the top 50 ranking.
The most successful Basque GC rider in recent decades, Mikel Landa has become a bit of a cult classic amongst the Grand Tour contenders. Despite not winning any WorldTour races since the start of the decade, Landa has still managed to finish on the Giro podium once and the top five of other Grand Tours on three other occasions.
After switching over to Soudal-Quickstep last winter, Landa has continued his strong form at the three-weekers. He finished the Tour de France in fifth and the Vuelta a Espana in eighth.
His facial expressions never lie and he’s always an interesting rider to watch. Mikel Landa, we salute you.
27. Biniam Girmay
Eritrean star Biniam Girmay exploded onto the scene in early 2022. After a consistent Paris-Nice, Girmay posted an impressive Classics campaign, culminating in a historic Gent-Wevelgem triumph. Girmay would carry this form into the Giro where he would win a first Grand Tour stage in Iesi, becoming the first Black African rider to win a Grand Tour stage.
Girmay’s most prominent results came at the Tour de France earlier this year. Three stage wins and the green jersey certainly proved that Girmay could be a big race rider capable of defeating the likes of Mads Pedersen and Jasper Philipsen on the Grand Tour stage.
Outside of the WorldTour strata, Girmay has hoovered up top results and podium finishes at second-tier one-day races, helping him secure a top ten finish in the UCI rankings this year.
26. Matteo Jorgenson
Versatile and reliable, Matteo Jorgenson has really emerged on the pro scene over the past two years.
While at Movistar, Jorgenson hung around at the head of one-week stage races and Classics, including a top ten finish at the Tour of Flanders. A couple of close calls and bad luck prevented Jorgenson from winning a Tour de France stage, but his class was definitely noticeable.
After signing for Visma-Lease a Bike last winter, Jorgenson climbed up the UCI rankings courtesy of a consistent and versatile season with the Dutch team. This year, the Idaho-raised rider secured an overall win at Paris-Nice, a close call second place at the Critérium du Dauphiné, a Classics victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen and a top ten finish in the general standings of the Tour de France.
25. Egan Bernal
It’s tough to weigh up Egan Bernal‘s place on this list. On the one hand, he’s won the Giro d’Italia this decade, but on the other, he hasn’t won a WorldTour race of any kind since 2022.
To sing his praises first, Bernal began the decade as one of the top GC riders in the peloton. After a 2020 punctuated by ebbs and flows in form and injury, Bernal bounced back in 2021 to finish on the podium of Strade Binache before sailing to Giro d’Italia glory, with two stage wins along the way. The Colombian contested the Vuelta later that year, finishing in sixth place.
However, a crash the following winter would write off his 2022 season and taint his 2023 recovery year.
Bernal has bounced back to some extent. He’s not on Grand Tour-winning level yet, however, he finished inside the top ten overall at every one-week stage race he took part in this year.
24. Romain Bardet
Romain Bardet will hang up his bike midway through next year’s season. However, he hasn’t showed many signs of slowing down over the past couple of years.
After swapping to Team DSM at the beginning of 2021, Bardet sustained his top-level results. He claimed yet more Grand Tour top tens, a stage win at the Vuelta a España and a rare stage race win at the 2022 Tour of the Alps.
In 2024, Bardet’s last full season, he made the podium of Liège-Bastogne-Liège before claiming his first Tour stage in seven years. With this, he earned the right to wear the yellow jersey for the first time in his career.
A classy rider, a respected rider, Bardet comfortably makes the cut.
23. Matej Mohorič
Matej Mohorič is the first Slovenian to feature on this list. I can assure you that he won’t be the last.
The Bahrain-Victorious rider is one of the 12 riders to have won a Monument this decade. With his daredevil descent of the Poggio at the 2022 edition of Milan-San Remo, he took his biggest win to date. Elsewhere in the Classics, Mohorič has finished inside the top ten of major cobbled and Ardennes Classics.
Mohorič has also become a core figure in Tour de France breakaways. In 2021, he sailed away to two solo victories whilst in 2023 the Slovenian took another stage win, this time in a photo finish. The Slovenian has claimed stages at the Tour de Pologne and Renewi Tour. He won the GC at the former in 2023.
22. Simon Yates
Simon Yates ended the 2010s with a Grand Tour win, plenty of high-profile stage victories and a real weight of expectation coming into the 2020s. In reality, he hasn’t quite taken the throne left behind by Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas. He still remains a reliable package when it comes to stage racing, I can’t deny that. However, Yates may have been looking for more.
Yates continued to target the Giro through the 2020s, at least until 2022. The British rider managed to claim three stages along the way, most surprisingly in a time-trial on Stage 2 of the 2022 Corsa Rosa. A podium finish in the GC at the Giro in 2021 would prove to be Yates’ GC highlight of the 2020s so far. However, the now-former Jayco-AlUla rider crept up the standings at the 2023 Tour de France to finish in fourth place overall.
Along the way, Yates has picked up stages at the Tour Down Under, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, the latter which he won overall in 2020.
The Bury-born rider will move across to Visma-Lease a Bike in the winter. This will be a key transfer to look out for. Perhaps he could emulate his brother who has really grown in strength since leaving behind Jayco-AlUla.
21. Dani Martínez
Dani Martínez claimed the first major UCI WorldTour stage race of the restarted 2020 season at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Later that year, the Colombian won a stage of the Tour de France and signed a contract with Ineos Grenadiers.
Since that breakout season, Martínez became a key domestique and back-up leader at the British superteam. A top five finish at the Giro – and a starring role as Egan Bernal’s motivational speaker – demonstrated his broad skillset. At Ineos, he was often third in line, but he still managed to claim wins at Itzulia Basque Country and the Volta ao Algarve before moving across to Bora-Hansgrohe last winter.
At the German team, Martínez finished second overall at the 2024 Giro d’Italia, his highest finish at a Grand Tour. This result points towards further Grand Tour results, but his unwavering support of Roglič at the Vuelta this year proved that he still has that lieutenant mindset in him.
He’s unpredictable, fiery, and has a classic riding style. What’s not to like?
20. Ben O’Connor
Ben O’Connor has really cemented his place on this list after his heroic season in 2024.
The Western Australian has been circling near the top ring of cycling for the past four seasons after signing with AG2R in 2021. O’Connor has landed on the podium of the Dauphiné on two occasions, won stages at the Volta Catalunya and UAE Tour and finished inside the top ten at plenty of notable WorldTour level stage races.
In Grand Tours, O’Connor has experienced great success. Along with a stage at each of the three Grand Tours, O’Connor has finished inside the top four of each as well. He wore the red jersey for almost two weeks at the 2024 Vuelta en route to finishing in second place overall at the Spanish race. At the Tour de France, he finished fourth in 2021, just a couple of months after being rescued from the sinking NTT Pro Cycling ship by AG2R.
To add to his Vuelta podium this year, O’Connor’s silver medal at the UCI Road World Championships helped him sneak into fourth place in the 2024 UCI rankings.
19. Christophe Laporte
Christophe Laporte is one of only three riders on this list to have won a medal at the Olympics, World and European Championships.
At the beginning of the decade, Laporte was a nearly-man at Cofidis. He’d often sweep up victories on the domestic scene, but would rarely crack the top flight. However, after signing for Jumbo-Visma in 2022, he shot up the UCI rankings. In 2022, he took the first WorldTour win of his career at Paris-Nice.
The cobbled Classics would demonstrate Laporte’s class with a strong performance on behalf of team leader Van Aert, including the long-range move they made together at E3. The Provençal rider would win the only French stage winner on the 2022 Tour de France before claiming a medal at the World Championships in the autumn.
2023 would continue this upward pick-up in form with wins at Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Critérium du Dauphiné. A European Championship victory would round out another impressive season.
18. Geraint Thomas
Geraint Thomas might be nearing his 40th birthday, but he’s still able to make the top three at a Grand Tour.
In 2022, he returned to the Tour de France podium, joining Pogačar and Vingegaard on the final podium in Paris. Thomas’ Giro exploits the following seasons would result in two more podium places, the closest of which came in 2023 when Roglič pipped him by just 14 seconds.
Thomas is more of a big race rider than a week-long stage racer. That said, he’s still poached two WorldTour trophies at the 2021 Tour de Romandie and 2022 Tour de Suisse. This melange of results has garnered him a place firmly within the top 100 of the UCI rankings each year since 2020.
The Welshman has kept up his bad habit of crashing, though. He crashed out of the Giro, broke a bone at the Tour and slipped on an uphill corner at the 2021 Romandie. Classic.
17. Enric Mas
Enric Mas has become a bit of a Vuelta specialist. Despite not having won a stage at the race since 2018, he has finished on the podium at the Vuelta on three occasions since 2020.
Mas is the rider on this list with the fewest amount of wins. He has no WorldTour wins to his name this decade. However, he remains one of the strongest GC riders in the pack, particularly in a Grand Tour context.
He’s not bound to stage-racing though, Mas has decent legs on a Classics profile. The Balearic rider won the Giro dell’Emilia in 2022 and finished on the podium of Il Lombardia that same year.
Overall, Mas has finished just inside the top 50 of the UCI rankings each year since 2020 and has become a very familiar face to cycling fans.
16. Tim Merlier
The most prolific sprinter of 2024, if we’re going off wins alone, Tim Merlier is one of the fastest riders in the pack.
Having broken out in 2019, Merlier soon made his name known on the WorldTour level in 2020 with major stage wins. His hotly-anticipated Grand Tour debut began in winning ways with a stage win on the second day of racing of the 2021 Giro. This would be replicated at the Tour de France when Merlier won the first sprint stage of that year’s Grand Boucle.
Merlier was snubbed as the team favoured the younger Philipsen. With this, Merlier moved across to Soudal-Quickstep and continued his winning form. Wins at the UAE Tour, Tour de Pologne, Scheldeprijs, Paris-Nice and three stages of the Giro have kept his palmarès amongst the best.
15. João Almeida
João Almeida came out of nowhere in 2020 when he led the Giro d’Italia for two weeks and almost ended up on the final podium in Milan. A couple of years later, we’ve come to learn that he was no flash in the pan.
That said, Almeida has struggled to take big wins. It wasn’t until 2021 that he claimed his first WorldTour victory, and he still only has one Grand Tour stage win on his palmarès, despite being in contention at eight separate three-weekers. Among these races, the Portuguese rider finished inside the top ten of all the six Grand Tours he completed. This includes four finishes inside the top four of GC.
Almeida has only reached the podium of a Grand Tour once, despite his status as one of the most visible GC riders of the 2020s so far. He’s partnered this up with strong one-week stage race results.
This year, Almeida morphed into one of the best domestiques in the mountains on behalf of Pogačar. Whilst performing these duties, Almeida still finished in fourth place at the Tour de France.
14. Adam Yates
Adam Yates has been a steady force at the top of the UCI standings since 2020. A two-time wearer of the maillot jaune, a serial stage race podium contender and now a domestique deluxe, Yates has experienced more than your average rider.
Even before joining UAE Team Emirates, Yates was amongst the strongest stage racers. He won the Volta a Catalunya at Ineos-Grenadiers, the UAE Tour whilst at Mitchelton (now Jayco-AlUla) and finished inside the top ten of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.
Yates, however, would make a huge step up after joining Pogačar’s posse in 2023. The Lancashire-born rider has won the Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie, a stage of the Tour de France and the Vuelta, worn the yellow jersey and finished on the Tour’s final podium all whilst at UAE Team Emirates.
I’ll let you in on a secret. Adam Yates is the highest-placed British rider on this list. Sorry, Chris Froome.
13. Filippo Ganna
Pippo Ganna was techincally the first men’s World Champion of the 2020s. He followed up that time-trial victory with another the following year.
More broadly, few riders can rival the Italian’s time-trial palmarès this decade. Alongside these rainbow jerseys, Ganna has a further two silvers, one Olympic medal and several national titles under his belt.
Ganna has won more Grand Tour stages than the vast majority of riders on this list. With seven wins at the Giro and one at the Vuelta, Ganna is a prolific tester against the clock. These top-level stages continue onto the WorldTour level with victories at Tirreno-Adriatico, the UAE Tour and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
The Italian has also featured at the head of races, acting as a domestique or even a team leader. This came to a head at the 2023 Milan-San Remo in which Ganna finished runner-up.
12. Mads Pedersen
Cut from a similar mould to Peter Sagan during the 2010s, Mads Pedersen is a powerful versatile sprinter who isn’t out of his depths in the Classics.
A podium finisher at both Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, the former World Champion has laid claim to Gent-Wevelgem on two occasions since 2020. The Lidl-Trek rider has also collected stage victories at Paris-Nice, the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Renewi Tour.
It took him some time to warm up to the Tour de France, but Pedersen has now won two stages at the French race. Likewise, Pedersen completed a swift Grand Tour trilogy by winning stages of the following Vuelta and Giro. At the Vuelta in particular, Pedersen shone brightly, winning the points classification.
In a hardy finale, Pedersen is usually a good pick. Throw in some bad weather or an attritional day and he’s a strong card to play. At another time, Pedersen would be considered one of the greats – at least in my opinion. He’s greatly overshadowed by the likes of Van der Poel and Van Aert.
11. Jai Hindley
Jai Hindley is one of the strongest Grand Tour riders of the 2020s so far. Well, he’s among just the eight Grand Tour winners this decade, but he’s managed to finish inside the top ten at four Grand Tours and win three stages.
Hindley followed a crucial move up the slopes of the Stelvio, paving the way to stage glory on that day and a stint in the pink jersey. He would ultimately miss out on the Giro title that year, instead finishing as runner-up. This was already a big surprise.
The season after was far from ideal, with little glimpses of this previous form. However, after signing for Bora-Hangrohe, Hindley found his legs again. After taking a stage up to Blockhaus at the 2022 Giro d’Italia, the Australian would go on to play a pragmatic game before launching a convincing move on the penultimate day of racing, sealing the Trofeo Senza Fine. Hindley’s triumph at the 2022 Giro d’Italia proved that he was more than just a Covid anomaly.
Hindley tasted success at the following year’s Tour de France, winning Stage 5 to Laruns in dominant fashion and landing himself in the overall lead. The Bora leader’s time in the maillot jaune was short – just one day – but he went on to finish inside the top ten despite crashing heavily during the second week.
10. Sepp Kuss
Another one of the decade’s Grand Tour winners, Sepp Kuss makes it to the top end of this list.
Of course, his Vuelta 2023 win is the palmarès highlight, but Kuss has proved himself in a number of roles and races since 2020. Proved to be one of the most influential riders of the decade. Kuss played a key role in Jumbo-Visma’s Tour de France domination, Roglic’s 2023 Giro win as well as in Roglic’s stage race sweeps.
The Colorado-born climber has delivered some killer pulls for Roglič and VIngegaard. He’s been able to isolate favourites, drop rivals and even contest for the podium at points. By doing this job, Kuss has altered much of the results books at Grand Tours, usually in favour of his Visma teammates.
Otherwise, Kuss has claimed stage wins at the Tour and Vuelta this decade, plus he’s bagged a couple of GC top ten finishes alongside that aforementioned Vuelta win.
9. Richard Carapaz
Richard Carapaz often gets overlooked by some. In the presence of such Grand Tour titans, it’s understandable. However, the Ecuadorian has a far more impressive palmarès than you might think.
The EF Education-EasyPost leader might not have won a Grand Tour this decade, but he’s certainly come close, missing out on Vuelta glory in 2020 by just 24 seconds. He’s appeared on the Grand Tour podium on three occasions since 2020 – twice in second and once in third.
Since 2020, Carapaz added four Grand Tour stage wins to his collection and two mountains classifications. Outside of the three-weekers, Carapaz earned an overall victory at the Tour de Suisse as well as a couple of WorldTour stage wins in one-week stage races.
To be honest, Carapaz might be the only rider able to compete with the climbers further up this list. He proved this at the Tour de France in 2021 and in almost beating Roglič at the 2020 Vuelta, he could have come closer to entering that elite circle of riders.
We also can’t forget about Carapaz’s Olympic gold medal from the Tokyo Games held in 2021.
8. Julian Alaphilippe
It’s been a while since we’ve seen the swashbuckling performances of Julian Alaphilippe. However, you can’t deny his impact on road cycling this decade so far.
To truly appreciate Alaphilippe, we need to look back on his 2020 and 2021 seasons. Not only did he win both years’ World Championships Road Race title, but he was a Tour de France stage winner and yellow jersey wearer. Alaphilippe was also still at the top of his Classics game. He won Flèche Wallonne in 2021 and finished runner-up at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Strade Bianche that same year.
To further his case, Alaphilippe acted as an influential rider in the cobbled Classics, either for himself or teammates. He won the Brabantse Pijl ahead of Van der Poel in 2020 and almost made the podium of the 2020 Tour of Flanders if it weren’t for a dramatic crash in the final 40km.
A number of crashes, injuries and team fallout hampered Alaphilippe’s chances from 2022 onwards. That said, he turned back the clock this year at the Giro to win a breakaway victory on his debut at the Corsa Rosa.
7. Jasper Philipsen
Jasper Philipsen is, by many accounts, the best sprinter in the world.
Philipsen started the decade with his first win at the Vuelta aged just 22. After swapping from UAE Team Emirates to Alpecin-Deceuninck at the end of that 2020 season, the Belgian stepped up his sprinting results. He’s left all bar one Grand Tour he’s competed in this decade with at least one stage victory. He’s rounded up 12 stages in total, plus a green jersey at the Tour de France.
He’s the only pure sprinter on this list to have won a Monument, having done so at this year’s Milan-San Remo. Along with this Classics title, Philipsen has a bundle of notable one-day races under his belt in the form of Scheldeprijs, Eschborn-Frankfurt and Classic Brugge-De Panne.
Philipsen has commanded Alpecin-Deceuninck into the team to beat in the sprints. He has also become the most decorated sprinter of the 2020s if you’re judging that by win count alone. In total, he has won 49 races during the 2020s, five more than his closest opponent Tim Merlier.
6. Wout van Aert
We’re certainly shifting up a gear with our next pick, Wout van Aert. One of the most versatile riders in the pack, Van Aert’s list of strengths is exhaustive. He’s among the best sprinters, time-trialists, domestiques, puncheurs and cobble riders in the bunch. It’s remarkable.
Van Aert’s Grand Tour record is impressive, particularly at the Tour de France. Since 2020, the Belgian has won a total of eight stages at the Tour and three at the Vuelta. The profiles in question have varied from flat time-trials to sprint and puncheur stages up to the extreme of a double ascent of Mont Ventoux. The Red Bull-sponsored athlete has also spent a couple of days in both the yellow and red jerseys and won a well-deserved points classification at the 2022 Tour.
Van Aert is somewhat overshadowed by the other galacticos to follow on this list. This is definitely the case when it comes to Monuments and one-day races. Van Aert is known for his podium finishes, but he rarely tops the podium in these big races. He has one Monument win during the 2020s back at the 2020 Milan-San Remo as well as other notable feats at Gent-Wevelgem, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche and the Amstel Gold Race.
Despite never topping an international championship podium, Van Aert has won silver medals at the Olympics, World and European Championships over the past few seasons.
5. Primož Roglič
Primož Roglič came into the 2020s as the best stage racer on the globe. He’s remained at the top of his game since 2020, however, his rivals have changed and the Slovenian’s circumstances have certainly evolved over time.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has found fertile ground at the Vuelta a España in particular. His three overall wins there since the turn of the decade, and accompanying 14 stage wins at the Spanish three-weeker should garner plenty of respect.
His 2023 Giro d’Italia victory clarified that he could win a Grand Tour outside of Spain, while his relationship with the Tour de France has become increasingly turbulent. As for the Grand Boucle, the Slovenian has failed to reach the finish line of the 21-stage-long race after his bitter second place at the 2020 Tour.
To keep up the praise, Roglič topped the UCI rankings in 2020, secured a Monument title that same year at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and has won six WorldTour stage races. This is more than any other rider on this list. They aren’t Mickey Mouse races either, Roglič has picked up Tirreno-Adriatico, Critérium du Dauphiné and Paris-Nice.
4. Remco Evenepoel
It’s a toss-up between Remco Evenepoel and Roglič, but the wind today has blown in the Belgian’s favour.
Evenepoel was the hot topic of conversation back in 2020. Everyone was talking about him. Rightly so, when the season restarted in 2020, he looked untouchable. A crash in August 2020 at Il Lombardia would ruin the Belgian’s chances for the rest of that season and much of the following season too.
Once fully recovered in 2022, Evenepoel would begin to show is what the hype was all about. Since making his comeback, he has won Liège-Bastogne-Liège twice, added two Olympic golds and three world titles to his palmarès, as well as a Tour de France white jersey and a Vuelta trophy.
Evenepoel’s exploits this summer at the Paris 2024 Olympics certainly help his case on this list. By winning Olympic gold, he’s won the Olympic, World and national titles in both road race and time-trial since 2020. No male rider has ever done this.
Looking beyond one-day races and time-trials, Evenepoel is still a Grand Tour champion. Yes, he’s only won a single Grand Tour, the 2022 Vuelta a España, and has managed to podium only one other three-weeker. That said, Evenepoel has left a lasting impact on Grand Tours having won eight stages since 2022. That’s far from the only impact Evenepoel has left on the sport, however. He’s grown into one of the most lucrative and recognisable faces in the sport.
3. Mathieu van der Poel
Belgian-born dual Dutch and French citizen Mathieu van der Poel is a thoroughbred champion.
He’s a big race rider, there’s no way around it. He’s won six Monuments since 2020, three at the Tour of Flanders, two at Paris-Roubaix and a single victory at Milan-San Remo. He’s finished on the podium of a further five Monuments and has won other headline one-day races like the E3 Prijs, Strade Bianche, Dwars door Vlaanderen. Van der Poel’s mitre was on show at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships – a race we recently ranked as the best men’s Classic of the decade – finally proving that he’s unequivocally the best Classics rider in the world.
Van der Poel has also added two Grand Tour stages to his record. After both, he spent a couple of days in the yellow and pink jerseys of the Tour and Giro respectively. However, it must be pointed out that Van der Poel’s Grand Tour record is not as impressive as the other riders in this top six.
That aside, Van der Poel is a phenomenon. His ancestral ties to cycling and his classy way of riding is captivating, I’ll say that. His list of achievements is eye-watering and he’s likely to go down amongst the best Classics riders of all-time once the decade comes to an end.
2. Jonas Vingegaard
Depending on who you ask, Jonas Vingegaard is considered the best climber in the world at the moment. Beginning the decade as an unknown name at Jumbo-Visma, the Dane quickly rocketed through the ranks to become a double Tour de France champion and one of the sport’s most electric GC talents.
In 2022 and 2023, Vingegaard was undoubtedly the best rider at the Tour. This was highlighted in particular through his scintillating moves on the Col du Granon and Hautacam in the 2022 Tour de France and his imperial performance against the clock in Combloux at the 2023 Tour de France. Helped by these moves, Vingegaard built the decade’s biggest Tour-winning margin at the 2023 race, defeating Pogačar by over seven minutes.
Outside of the Tour de France, Vingegaard has left a mark on the WorldTour scene. The Visma-Lease a Bike leader has won the Critérium du Dauphiné, Itzulia Basque Country and has finished runner-up at the Vuelta, albeit behind his teammate and Tour domestique Kuss.
1. Tadej Pogačar
You guessed it, Tadej Pogačar tops our list.
The reigning Giro, Tour and World Champion has without a doubt reshaped men’s cycling in the 2020s. It was at the start of the decade that Pogačar claimed his first Tour de France victory, launching himself onto the ‘big time’.
Since then, he’s bagged a hell of a lot more victories. These include three further Grand Tour titles – two of which came in 2024 – four Il Lombardia trophies, two Liège-Bastogne-Liège titles and an imperial Tour of Flanders win in 2023.
The Slovenian superstar has been collecting races elsewhere in the calendar too. To name just a few, he’s won Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold Race and 23 total Grand Tour stage wins. No one on this list has a palmarès anywhere near as versatile and impressive as this. In terms of Grand Tours, stage races, Monuments and international championships, Pogacar has the best record by far. That certainly helps his case to make it onto the top step of our podium.
Pogačar’s 2024 season rivals – and perhaps surpasses – the best individual years of Eddy Merckx, a man widely considered to be the greatest cyclist of all time. With two Monuments, two Grand Tours and a rainbow jersey packed into the same season, Pogačar has achieved a great deal so far in the 2020s.
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