Opinion: The fact that BBC Sports Personality of the Year didn’t choose Tadej Pogacar shows a bigger problem with how people feel about riding.

Fans of cycling were once again upset earlier this month when Mark Cavendish, one of the sport’s biggest stars, seemed to be passed over for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024. Even though the decision was later changed and Cavendish was given the Lifetime Achievement Award, it brought up a bigger question: why is racing still not recognized at major award ceremonies?

When the group for BBC Sports Personality’s World Sport Star of the Year 2024 was shown, the anger grew. The list, which has been won by Lionel Messi, Max Verstappen, and Simone Biles in the past, honors some of the most impressive sports accomplishments of the year by players from outside the UK. But Tadej Pogacar was certainly not there. In 2024, he had what many people consider to be the best racing season ever.

Is it possible to do better in 2024 than Tadej Pogacar?

To fully understand how bad the snub was, we need to look at Pogacar’s amazing 2024. He changed the course of history by winning the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France, and the World Championships road race all in the same year. Eddy Merckx did it in 1974 and Stephen Roche did it in 1987, making it a “triple crown” if you will.

But Pogacar did a lot more than just win the three biggest races in cycling. He also won Il Lombardia, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Strade Bianche with amazing solo attacks over 81 kilometers. This showed that he is the best one-day rider in the world. Pogacar won an amazing 25 races, 12 of which were Grand Tour stages. His performance over the course of two Grand Tours, spanning three weeks, and his dominance in one-day races made his season one of the best in cycling history. Max Verstappen won 19 of 22 races in 2023, and Man City won all three of their league titles that year. Pogacar’s season was one of the best in sports history.

Even though Pogacar had such an amazing season, he wasn’t even on the shortlist for the World Sport Star award, let alone win it. How did Pogacar get on the list?

Putting Pogacar up against the 2024 World Sport Star candidates

One of the candidates for this year’s World Sport Star is Simone Biles, who was at her best at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where she won the women’s all-around title at age 27. She was the oldest winner of that title in 72 years. Without a doubt, Biles had another great year. She got three gold medals and one silver.

But was it better than Pogacar’s? Of course, everyone has their own opinion, but Biles’s year wasn’t even her best ever (that was 2016), let alone the best season in her sport.

Armand Duplantis, the Swedish Pole Vault world record winner, is another big name on the list. He not only won the gold in Paris, but he also broke the world record more than once.

Hey, Mr. Duplantis! Good job, but it’s not quite the triple crown, is it?

Leon Marchand was the face of the Paris Olympics. We’ll admit it: getting four gold medals at home games is a lot like Pogacar’s season, and Marchand is without a doubt one of the best athletes in the world.

But he’s still not Pogacar, is he?

Why do people forget about cycling?

It’s not the first time that big awards have ignored cycling. Since it began in 1960, the World Sport Star award has only been given to riders once, to Jacques Anquetil in 1963. Lance Armstrong’s win in 2003 was properly revoked after his doping scandal.

Cycling has a history of doping issues, which is one reason why it has trouble getting recognized. Even though the sport has worked hard to fix its image, these problems from the past still make people wary. Many people who aren’t into riding don’t believe in Pogacar’s accomplishments, even though modern cycling has some of the strictest anti-doping rules in all of sports.

Another issue is how accessible something is seen to be. People can play football in their local park with millions of other fans, and gymnastics draws large crowds with its artistic skills. But riding is often seen as a niche sport. But this view doesn’t take into account how popular the sport is around the world. Every year, billions of people watch Grand Tours like the Tour de France.

What’s annoying is that there are different standards for recognizing greatness in riding compared to other sports. People admire athletes like Eliud Kipchoge, who got the World Sport Star award, for how hard they work and how long they can keep going. But Pogacar, who shows these same traits in events that last weeks instead of days, is not even mentioned.

A stage of the Tour de France can last up to six hours, and the riders burn more than 6,000 calories a day by riding up and down slopes that would make most recreational cyclists gasp for air. For 21 days, they do this. 21! It only takes one look at an expert cyclist to understand how much they give up, but why aren’t they known around the world?

To be good at cycling, athletes have to train for hours every day, in the cold, rain, and snow. This level of commitment is unmatched. They are very strict about what they eat, and they give up a lot of their personal lives to focus on their sport. Like the other top cyclists, Pogacar will have given up almost everything in their personal lives to have a chance at being the best. However, this could be said about any top athlete, so why aren’t they seen as equals?

Pogacar’s accomplishments also show how different cycling is from other sports in terms of physical demands. For example, to win the triple crown, he has to peak more than once in a single year, which doesn’t happen very often in other sports. Football players need to be at a high level all year, but they don’t need to be in as good of shape for their heart as athletes do for other sports.

When it comes to sports like Formula 1, where the gear can definitely affect the result, cycling is just a test of how strong and durable people are. Indeed, you need the right team to succeed. In 2024, Pogacar had that with his UAE Team Emirates star squad. But what about the World Championships in Zurich in September, where Pogacar won after going off on his own for 100 kilometers? There were no team methods that could have helped him that time!

Why getting praise is important

It’s not just an error that Pogacar’s accomplishments aren’t recognized; the sport as a whole isn’t recognized either. Major award shows help raise the profile of a sport, which can inspire the next generation of athletes and bring in new fans. Unfortunately, cycling in the UK will not be able to gain from that this year.

By not giving Pogacar an award, the BBC and other global organizations reinforce the notion that cycling is a less important sport than football, F1, or other Olympic sports. This is not only unfair, but also wrong, because riders like Pogacar have done amazing things and given up a lot.

It’s not a case that Pogacar had a better year than Marchand, Biles, or any of the other truly great players from other sports; the question is why he wasn’t even on the list.

Cycling belongs with the best sports in the world, and Pogacar’s 2024 season is the best proof of that. His accomplishments remind us of the unique demands of the sport and its ability to produce times of pure athletic brilliance. They also show how one man can push himself to greatness.

Let’s not forget about the great things that Pogacar, Cavendish, and other cyclists have done while we celebrate the other athletes on the list. If we don’t pay attention to riding, we might miss some of the biggest sports stories of our time.

Cycling deserves better because of its past, popularity around the world, and unique physical challenges. Also Tadej Pogacar.