Elias Holmström was crowned Rider of the Season at the OCM Awards, held at the prestigious Hotel de Crillon in Paris last night.
  
  The all-conquering Swede from the Ponsbach CST squad was the bookies' favorite to lift the title, after an amazing season which saw him rise to World No. 1 on the back of six victories and a further nine podium places.
  
  The climbing sensation who unsurprisingly also lifted the Best Climber trophy was accompanied by his new girlfriend, the Swedish supermodel Caroline Winberg. Many in attendance thought he should have won an award for sexiest date as well.
  
  Holmström’s victory in the Rider of the Season category was emphatic, with only two voters choosing another rider for their first preference. Elias’ margin was such that he had a total higher than the combined votes of the four nearest competitors.
  
  Holmström’s climbing prowess, which gained him decisive victories in stages of both the Germany and Perm Tours along with numerous other one day wins including Brescia Climbs and Mount Kenya, saw him beat Freek van Weenen of skils and Rodney Hodgson of Team Atlantic into second and third place respectively.
  
  The Best Sprinter award went to Ireland’s Rodney Hodgson. Some would say that Hodgson had a disappointing season by his standards, after losing his coveted World No. 1 title to Holmström, but his record-breaking third consecutive Green Jersey at Germany proved he is still a prolific sprinting talent. Hodgson had many successes throughout the season; two stage victories in Germany, four one day race wins including his second Milano-Torino and a superb, unexpected Silver at the World Road Race Championships.
  
  Hodgson narrowly beat van Weenen to the title, who must be wondering what he needs to do to be recognised for his sprinting skills - second in the World Rankings, second in Rider of the Season and second in Best Sprinter. Hanke Vibbard of Bajen Belfast finished third after picking up five wins during the season.
  
  Holmström’s second

award was for Best Climber and again in this category he wiped the floor with the competition. In presenting the trophy, Kenned Bang paid tribute to his outstanding victories at Dovre and Castelo Branco where he literally rode away from the field as if they were stationary. Bang enquired whether Elias would be focusing on TT training this season so he could challenge for Tour honours. “We’ll see” got the entire audience envisaging a Holmström victory at the Germany Tour later in the year.
  
  The English duo of Truman Woodson of scuppernong and Keegan Shiable from Team Kernow finished runners up.
  
  Sieuwerd Bouwens of FFL won the Best Cobbler award thanks to two outstanding Classic successes at Roubaix and Antwerpen-Huy. The Dutch Master was a runaway victor after winning two of the monuments on the OCM calendar.
  
  Competition was close for second place, with Lucas Fisher of Ahploeg beating Geeraard de Zwaan of Los Estados Unicos by a single point.
  
  Vernon Kings from Fairfield Flyers Cycling won the Best Tour Rider category after an astonishing victory at the Germany Tour. The young American surprised the entire peloton, pundits and armchair cycling fans by outgunning all the favorites in Germany. Along with the Yellow and White in Germany, he also picked up the White in the Volta.
  
  Second place went to Jens Waesbergen of Cyklista, who finished second in the Nederlandse Tour and third at the Essex Tour and winning the Youth Classification at both events. Miles Finnerty of cway won third prize for his performances at Essex where he won the race and picked up two of the three stages on offer.
  
  The Best Time Triallist award went to Halsey Rowzee for his performances with FFL last season. The Australian veteran, now with Tannlaus, proved the most popular TTer in a season where the big hitters like Henschel and Dahlstrom failed to live up to everyone’s expectations.
  
  Victories in Rome and Salles-sur-Verdun secured the title for Rowzee, with CCFC’s Ibrahim Youseff and

VakantieZon’s Philip Hostede finishing runners up.
  
  Best Young Rider went to the Germany Tour winner Vernon Kings. A virtual unknown prior to Season 11, he is now one of the most talked about riders in the peloton given his sterling Tour performances last season. Not only a Tour rider, he also won the hilly Mons-Turnhout.
  
  One point behind was Waesbergen thanks to an excellent ride in the Nederlandse Tour where he picked up two stage victories. Third place went to the young Slovakian Vlatismil Kucsa riding with the second division spartak team.
  
  Although Vernon Kings won the Best Tour and Best Young Rider categories, he did not pick up the title of Best Breakthrough Rider. Ferdinand Coy of Equipo Easy On beat him by a solitary point to lift the trophy. The Bermudan sprinter, stage winner at Germany and victor at Bodensee-Vorarlberg, surprised many including himself to upstage Kings in the Breakthrough category.
  
  Unsurprisingly, Team of the Year went to skils, the top ranked team in the World, largely due to van Weenen’s sprinting abilities. Freek had a terrific season, with five major victories including a double in Spain at La Coruna and Barcelona, a stage win at Germany and two successes in the Americas – Buenos Aires and Miami.
  
  FFL got second place thanks to Dorsher, Lannoye, Bouwens and Rowsee’s contributions, while Fairfield Flyers secured third place owing mostly to Kings' tour performances.
  
  And unbelievably there was a three-way tie for Most Disappointing Rider. Pascal Lannoye, Nico Holt (both FFL) and Gerald Karda of Wonderdee shared the spoils. Apparently they will be forced to keep the trophy for four months each, although none were prepared to mount the stage to receive the honor.
  
  Holt, proudly sporting his bronze medal from the recent RR Champs, was available for comment, stating “I’ve moved to Ursus RT now and things are going to be very, very different this year.”
  
  (written and compiled by Nick of Team Atlantic)