AntBanter! Rider of the Month results

There was a massive race in the sport of cycling last weekend. Thrilling to the end, it had us all hooked as the excitement grew to a beer-spilling, frite-dropping climax. In the end, one rider burst forward and emerged victorious to take the title of … VeloVoices Rider of the Month!

Kathi tells me there was something in Belgium too, involving a beer-swilling Swiss gladiator with one white sleeve. I must Google that, it sounds interesting.

Anyway, I digress.

Last week, we put forward the case for five riders who we felt had excelled above all others over the course of March, and asked you guys to pick a winner. (We can’t be trusted.) The riders we championed were:

Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) – won Paris-Nice.
Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) – won Milan-San Remo.
Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) – Won Strade Bianche.
Peter Sagan (Cannondale) – won E3 Harelbeke, 3rd in Gent-Wevelgem.
Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) – won Dwars door Vlaanderen, second in E3 Harelbeke.

(You can read the original post here.)

When the voting opened, it was brutal. Poor old Carlos Betancur fell by the wayside, abandoning the competition on the same day he quit the Vuelta a Pais Vasco. In a VeloVoices first, he got ‘nul points’. While this was happening, Kwiatkowski and Sagan picked up where they left off in Siena and left Terpstra and Kristoff to chase (a partnership spookily mirroring the finale of the Ronde van Vlaanderen!)

Determined not to be outdone by Kwiatkowski for a second time in a month, the Slovak dug deep and with a burst of flair concomitant with an in-form Sagan, surged in for the win.

OPQS have been faring pretty well in our Rider of the Month competitions, and they rounded off Kwiatkowski’s second place by adding Niki Terpstra to the podium.

As per last month, I’d like to thank everybody who voted. Once again it’s been a great little competition and it’s nice to see everybody getting involved. Next month’s awards will of course be capturing Flanders and Roubaix, amongst many, many other races, so expect a tough choice to be coming your way. So until the next time, here are your final standings: