We're bringing together the best of the 2021 cycling season, with SBS Cycling experts and commentators bringing to life their favourites races and moments of the season just past. You can watch all the replays and highlights on SBS On Demand or peruse the articles and videos via the SBS Cycling Central website.
Bridie O’Donnell was an SBS cycling expert and commentator throughout the 2021 season, bringing her unique blend of incisive commentary and wit to the broadcast of SBS events. She was a natural choice to wrap up the 2021 season with some of the defining moments that captivated audiences around the world.
Grace Brown takes breakthrough WorldTour win
2021 was an amazing season for cycling and I’m privileged to be able to share my top five moments with you.
My first exciting moment was when Grace Brown won Brugge-De Panne back in late March. It was her first WorldTour win of her career. She was extraordinary, attacking with ten kilometres to go and holding off a fast-finishing bunch sprint from Emma Norsgaard (Movistar) and Jolien D’Hoore (SD-Worx).
Van der Poel honours grandfather Poulidor with an emotional ride to yellow
My second most amazing moment of the season was of course Mathieu van der Poel. He took an extraordinarily emotional victory on Stage 2 of the Tour de France, seizing the yellow jersey and honouring the memory of Raymond Poulidor, his grandfather.
He showed how much emotion and commitment goes into winning a stage of the Tour and honouring a family member.
Vos the GOAT knocks off 30
Just two weeks later, we saw a great performance by Marianne Vos – arguably the GOAT (greatest of all-time) in women’s cycling. She took Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia Femminile but it was that it was her 30th win in the Giro that was most significant.
Over a really punchy 110 kilometre route, she showed just how dominant she is on these finishes, unleashing that fast sprint.
Wout’s work of Aert
A couple of days later, we saw Wout van Aert take his third victory… and what a victory! Everybody was expecting the fast-finishing sprinters would take the victory and here he was after winning the stage over Mont Ventoux and the time trial the day before.
Van Aert bested all the explosive finishers with his teammates doing a great job in the leadout. Wout’s face for me was a delight.
Great Danes
Finally, at the end of the season, we saw the Track World Championships in Roubaix. Team Denmark, Michael Morkov and Lass Norman Hansen, were unstoppable in the Men's Madison.
They were tactical, smart and ferocious, and just so skilled in those change-overs. They beat Italy and Belgium, backing up their gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics just a few months earlier.
