VELO D’OR 2025, The voices of cycling at Pavillon Gabriel

Barely a month and a half ago, we were already very close to here, a few hectometers further northwest, in the heart of the Palais des Congrès de Paris, for the presentation of the 2026 Tours. A significant moment that we recounted in this post Présentation des Tours 2026 : paroles du peloton. Tonight, crossing Paris, the feeling is the same but the atmosphere has changed. Where the Palais des Congrès imposed its monumental verticality, the Pavillon Gabriel offers the hushed intimacy of a storytelling setting, a place that has seen fashion, culture, and politics parade through, and which now hosts one of modern cycling’s most sensitive events: the Vélo d’Or™ ceremony

By Jeff Tatard – Photo: @jefftatard

On the agenda: emotions, recognition, symbols, and especially that rare moment when cycling observes itself. Presented by Claire Bricogne and David Millar, champions, sports directors, young talents, and historical figures gather to review a 2025 season that has shaped memories.

Under the gilding of the Pavillon Gabriel, even Drucker would have applauded the staging… and the two magnificent masters of ceremony.

And there’s something almost cinematic about seeing cycling settle into these walls: the Pavillon Gabriel was long Michel Drucker’s television stronghold, a place where the major events of French broadcasting played out every week. To celebrate cycling heroes there today is like bringing the 2025 season into an entire segment of our shared culture.

True to our editorial line, which we strive to make the most intelligent, the most human, the most rooted in history, we asked them a single question, the same for everyone. A question that doesn’t just describe the present: it calls for a vision…

« What does the 2025 cycling year inspire in you for 2026, and what place do you think the Vélo d’Or™ occupies in how cycling is judged and narrated? »

WHAT CYCLING SAYS TO ITSELF – VÉLO D’OR™ 2025 SPECIAL

Gilles Comte – Editor-in-Chief of Vélo Magazine

« We all told ourselves that a season like Pogačar’s last year only happens once. And he did it again. At the same level. It’s extremely rare: winning a Grand Tour, three Monuments, dominating on all terrains… It forces his opponents to reinvent themselves. Even riders like Evenepoel are now working specifically to understand how to beat him. For 2026, either he continues his dynasty, or the gap narrows, and that would become exciting.
As for the Vélo d’Or™, we can clearly see that it matters: Cavendish still told me that he should have had it twice, and that it had annoyed him. But cycling remains a sport where victory trumps everything. A rider lives to win Roubaix, a World Championship, not for a trophy. Yet, being Vélo d’Or™ says something about your place in the era. And champions know that. »

Luis Ángel Maté – Winner of the Gino Mäder Award 2024

« The Gino Mäder Award is a magnificent way to honor a rider who fought for the environment. It’s not a sporting victory, it doesn’t replace a result in a palmarès, but it’s important: it highlights commitments that matter.

This year, presenting the trophy to Matteo Trentin was powerful. Cycling also tells the story of the world around it, and this award reminds us of that. »

Mark Cavendish – 2nd in the Vélo d’Or 2009 and 2011

« I’m not going to lie: yes, I would have liked to win it. In 2009 after Milan-San Remo, in 2011 the year of the world title… It’s an important trophy. And when you finish second, you inevitably think about it. »

And when asked what place the Vélo d’Or occupies compared to the Ballon d’Or, he replies: « the only reason the Ballon d’Or has more resonance is that in football we’re not used to individual triumphs; in cycling, even though we’re helped by the team, there’s always only one winner, and so all year long, it’s a continuity of individual triumphs. »

Alexandre Léauté – Winner of the Handisport Award 2024 & 2025

« I don’t know what it means for Pogačar or Pauline, but for me, being honored on the same evening as them is incredible. I add it to my palmarès without hesitation. It’s a great line on a CV. »

João Almeida – World Number 2

« Tadej is at a training camp, he couldn’t be here. This trophy is not his priority, but it is still the consequence of a complete season. He races to win races, not awards, but the Vélo d’Or™ is a reflection of everything he has achieved. »

Conclusion

It’s almost 11 PM when the voices quiet down and the last trophies disappear into their velvet covers. Yet one thing remains in the air: the impression that world cycling has just taken a moment to look itself in the mirror.

After the presentation of the 2026 Tours at the Palais des Congrès, after this Vélo d’Or™ ceremony at the Pavillon Gabriel, one thing becomes clear: cycling is moving forward, but it’s moving forward with awareness.

2025 not only offered remarkable victories: it revealed human trajectories, it revealed breaks, it revealed career stops and ends, it revealed emergences, it revealed shifts. And if the answers gathered tonight have one thing in common, it is the idea that 2026 could be even more eventful, more creative, more audacious.

3bikes will be there. On the roads, behind the scenes, at the heart of the stories. As always…