What is there left to say about Chris Froome’s 2013? Capped by a Tour de France yellow jersey and the prestigious Velo d’Or, the Kenyan-born Brit blew his rivals away during the season. His maillot jaune was complemented by second place in the mountains classification – helped largely by his stunning solo attacks on Ax 3 Domaines and Mont Ventoux. He also won on the rolling individual time trial route, and was third on the Semnoz behind only Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez.

Froome also collected a number of high-profile wins en route to the Tour too, winning the mountainous stage to Valmorel to take the Criterium du Dauphine and soloing to victory on the Col de l’Ospedale to win the Criterium International. Froome was also victorious at the Tour of Oman, thanks to a second place on green mountain, and on the Tour de Romandie, while he finished second at the Tirreno-Adriatico. Having served his time as Bradley Wiggins’ super-domestique in 2012, Froome came to the fore this year with some explosive attacks on the big climbs.