Annus Mirabilis

Lizzie Armitstead enjoyed plenty of success in 2014, winning the UCI Women’s Road World Cup and also claiming Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow.

To exceed that in 2015 was always going to take some doing – and yet few would doubt she has been even better this time out.

Kicking off the season with two stages win and the overall prize at the Ladies Tour of Qatar, Armitstead went on to earn podium spots at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Strade Bianche.

World Cup success followed at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Parx Casino Philly Cycling Classic before winning the opening stage of the Aviva Women’s Tour.

– Lizzie Armitstead wins world road race in Richmond –

Queen Lizzie then bounced back from injury to win the national road race, reclaiming her crown from Laura Trott, before another World Cup win at the GP de Plouay-Bretagne to seal her second consecutive overall Women’s World Cup series victory.

But the crowning moment of Armitstead’s season came a month later in Richmond, within a week of helping Boels-Dolmans take second in the women’s team time trial event.

Armitstead ignited the latter parts of the world road race, and left enough in the tank to sprint to victory and claim the rainbow bands for the first time.

Opportunity knocks

Talking of the best female cyclists of this generation, some will point to the absence of women’s cycling wonder woman Marianne Vos – missing all season through injury – as a key factor in Armitstead’s success.

But Armitstead has undoubtedly proven herself to be among the best already, and to win both the World Cup and the World Championships takes a huge effort and remarkable consistency throughout the year.

Armitstead’s victory at the worlds was thoroughly deserved after she had proved herself willing to throw the dice and gamble with a series of attacks on the punchy Richmond finale.

And when she was unable to distance her rivals, Armitstead proved her adaptability by sprinting to victory anyway.

It was a champion’s performance, regardless of who the opposition were – and besides, Armitstead’s predecessor in the rainbow jersey, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, was among those beaten.

Ambassador Armitstead

Outright success isn’t the only critera in winning Sports Personality of the Year, either, with the name of the award showing it’s about character too.

Armitstead has remained humble in victory, and has flown the flag for British sport on the biggest cycling stages.

She is also an ambassador for British women’s cycling, an inspiration to the girls hoping to follow her to the top of the sport, and the way she celebrated with her team-mates on the Richmond podium shows her as a gracious and appreciative winner.

To see a Brit in the rainbow jersey is something that deserves huge celebration, particularly given Armitstead is just the seven Brit to win the world road race (Beryl Burton (twice), Tom Simpson, Mandy Jones, Nicole Cooke and Mark Cavendish being the others).

And if you’re still not convinced… vote Froome!

Of course, Armitstead isn’t the only cyclist in contention for the Sports Personality of the Year award this year – Tour de France champion Chris Froome being the other.

Froome was last nominated in 2013, after his first Tour de France win, and he has continued to be at the top of world cycling since then.

Last year’s second-place at the Vuelta a Espana, after crashing out of the Tour, set the tone and Froome was in great form this year.

Ruta del Sol victory meant early bragging rights over Alberto Contador, while his two stage wins on the final weekend of the Criterium du Dauphine – which sealed overall victory – showed he was bang in form as the Tour started.

And so it proved, as the Team Sky man pulled on the yellow jersey after finishing second on the Mur de Huy on stage three and was back in the lead before the first week was up.

– Analysis: what does Chris Froome’s lab test data mean? –

Froome’s stunning victory on La Pierre-Saint-Martin in the Pyrenees then all-but sealed overall success before he fought illness and the resurgent form of Nairo Quintana to hold the jersey all the way to Paris.

And it wasn’t just the yellow jersey he went home with either, bagging the King of the Mountains title for the first time too – the first Brit to do so since Robert Millar in 1985.

Froome did so despite facing unfair and unfounded doping allegations too, but faced them with dignity – even when he had urine thrown at him by roadside ‘fans’.