But, out of the thousands of miles of concrete, gravel and cobbles traversed by these professional cyclists, who reigned supreme in 2015?
Best Overall: Pauline Ferrand Prevot
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Marianne Vos 2.0? This year, the prolific competitor became the first cyclist ever—in the history of two-wheeled competition—to hold the world road title, world cyclocross title and world mountain bike title simultaneously. And the kicker: she's just 23 years old.
While she frustrates competitors across multiple disciplines, the UCI must love Ms. Prevot, as cycling's governing body only has to produce one rainbow-colored jersey.
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Cycling EventsBest Stage Cyclist: Chris Froome
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This isn't merely naming the winner of the world's biggest race, the Tour de France, as the greatest stage cyclist. Froome also took home overall victories at the Vuelta a Andalucia and the prestigious Criterium du Dauphine.
Of course, it helps that he won the Tour on a course that supposedly didn't suit his strengths (many predicted second-place finisher Nairo Quintana would claim the maillot jaune) on his way to his second overall win and first victory in the mountains classification.
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Cycling EventsBest Sprinter: Andre Greipel
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You need both fingers and toes to count the number of sprint stage victories the man affectionately known as "the Gorilla" took home in 2015. All due respect to Peter Sagan, but the fastest man in the world must accumulate stage wins that require a balls-to-the-walls dash.
Let's count them: four Tour de France stage wins (including on the Champs-Elysees, the sprinter's Rose Bowl), one Giro d'Italia stage win and six additional stage wins, including one in the eight-day Paris-Nice. Congratulations, Mr. Greipel, you are the world's fastest man.
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Cycling EventsBest Climber: Alejandro Valverde
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It may surprise some that Valverde's teammate, Nairo Quintana, isn't named this year's best climber, but we have to award Valverde for his aggression and fortitude after competing in seemingly every race this year and capturing first overall in the UCI World Tour.
He also earned third overall at the Tour de France—a well-deserved podium finish after stubbornly attacking the leaders on every climb—and took home the points classification and a summit victory at the Vuelta a Espana.
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Cycling EventsBest American Cyclist: Chloe Dygert
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With Tejay Van Garderen and Andrew Talansky vying for podium positions at Grand Tours and the return of Taylor Phinney, Americans have a reason to be excited in the post-Lance cycling world. But it was Chloe Dygert's dominant performance at the UCI World Road Race Championships that really turned heads.
Racing in the junior women's events, the 18-year-old swept the awards, winning both the junior road race and junior time trial by over a minute. And with fellow American Emma White placing second in both events, women's road racing could become a fixture in the pantheon of American athletics.
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Cycling EventsBest Classics/Criterium Cyclist: Lizzie Armitstead
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There were a lot of gold medals, rainbow jerseys and high podium finishes on Lizzie Armitstead's resume this year. After winning the Women's World Cup by capturing three of the 10 one-day races, the English cyclist claimed victory at the UCI Road Race Championship in Richmond.
Armitstead won three additional one-day races—winning the British Road Race Championship 10 days after a horrific crash with photographers—and captured the Tour of Qatar, winning two of the race's four stages.
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Cycling EventsBest Time Trialist: Rohan Dennis
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No one raced better against the clock this year than Rohan Dennis. Breaking the World Hour record early in the year propelled Dennis to his greatest year ever.
The Australian led his BMC team to the World Team Time Trial Championship and this year's team time trial at the Tour de France, and claimed two individual wins among some of the best time trial specialists in the world, including the first stage at this year's Tour.
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Cycling EventsBest Cyclocross: Mathieu van der Poel
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At the tender age of 20, Mathieu Van der Poel is already dominating the exceedingly popular world of cyclocross. A year after crushing the competition in the under-23 category, the young Dutchman turned professional and won the Cyclocross World Cup and the season-long Superprestige.
And don't credit such supremacy to beginner's luck; van der Poel already has two cyclocross victories under his belt in the young 2015-16 season.
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Cycling EventsBest Track Cyclist: Anastasiia Voinova
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Capturing the 500 m sprint gold at both the UCI Track World Championships and the UEC European Track Championships was certainly impressive for the 22-year-old Russian. Even more impressive: breaking the 500 m spring record time, becoming only the seventh person to hold the record in the event's 22-year history.
Voinova also placed second in the team sprint classification at the UCI Track World Championships with teammate Daria Shmeleva, just missing out by .3 seconds to a world record-setting time by Gong Jinjie and Zhong Tianshi.
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Cycling EventsLifetime Achievement: Fabian Cancellara
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The 2016 season will be the final campaign for the cyclist affectionately known as Spartacus. A time trial specialist who excels in both classics and stage races, the peloton will sorely miss the presence of the tall Swiss cyclist.
A three-time winner of the Tour of Flanders and the prestigious Paris-Roubaix, Cancellara was also a fixture at the Tour de France, having worn yellow for 25 total stages throughout his career. If he succeeds in his aim to don the Giro d'Italia's pink jersey in 2016, he will have worn the leader's jersey in all three Grand Tours.
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