Jolanda Neff is right at the top of the list of favorites this year. With her overall victory in the Cross-Country World Cup, the U23 World Champion is also nominated in the highest category at the Swiss Cycling Awards. However, the youngest World Cup winner is not without competition - on the contrary. Neff is receiving counter-pressure from the off-road camp. It is none other than Kathrin Stirnemann, the strongest sprinter of the 2014 season. With the World and European Championship title as well as the overall World Cup victory in the Eliminator, she is likely to go head-to-head with Neff for the award.

A total of eight mountain bikers are nominated in the men's category. Alongside the usual "suspects" such as Nino Schurter and co, Simon Waldburger deserves special mention. Third at the 4x World Championships in Leogang, he is the only downhill athlete among the nominees, which is still a rarity at the moment. In general, the nominated mountain bikers have more competition than the women. Thanks to his great performances last season, the young track rider Stefan Küng can hope for a lot of support from the track and road bike side. The indestructible Heinz Frei has had another very strong season in paracycling. With his top results, Frei is likely to become a serious candidate for the Swiss Cycling Award. Last but not least, there is Fabian Cancellara, who with his large fan base and his victory in the Tour of Flanders is once again one of the title contenders. From a biker's point of view, Nino Schurter is once again likely to be the big vote-getter.

Young mountain bikers favored
In the junior category, Linda Indergand and Nicole Koller have the best and similarly good maps. There could be a neck-and-neck race for the award here too. If Koller wins, the road side can also be happy, as Nicole Koller was also very successful on the road with her second place at the European Championships in Nyon.The track riders tend to have the edge when it comes to the award for the best cycling team. Thanks to the strong work of young talent in this area, the Swiss team with Stefan Küng, Frank Pasche, Loic Perizzolo, Théry Schir and Cyrille Thiéry continues to advance towards the top of the world rankings. Nevertheless, the Swiss mountain bike relay team, with its silver medal at the World Championships, can also hope to win the title.

Online voting has been open since November 7th. Voting via the link below will continue until December 07, 2014.

www.swiss-cycling.ch/de/verband/swiss-cycling-awards.html

The nominated mountain bikers
Men
Lukas Flückiger	3rd place XC WC Windham/USA
Mathias Flückiger	2nd place XC WC Cairns/AUS
Fabian Giger	2nd place XC EM St. Wendel/GER
Patrick Lüthi	3rd place XC WC Albstadt/GER
Ralph Näf	2nd place Eliminator EM St. Wendel/GER
Christoph Sauser	3rd place Marathon World Championships Pietermaritzburg/RSA, 1st place Marathon European Championships Ballyhoura/IRL
Nino Schurter	2nd place XC WC Hafjell/NOR, 2nd place XC WC overall
Simon Waldburger	3rd place 4x World Championships Leogang/AUT
Women
Jolanda Neff	1st place XC WC overall (elite), 1st place XC U23-WM Hafjell/NOR, 2nd place U23-EM St. Wendel/GER
Kathrin Stirnemann	1st place Eliminator WC Hafjell/NOR, 1st place Eliminator WC overall, 1st place Eliminator EM St. Wendel/GER
New generation
Sina Frei	3rd place XC WC juniors Hafjell/NOR, 3rd placeXC EM juniors St. Wendel/GER
Linda Indergand	2nd place Eliminator World Championships Hafjell/NOR, 3rd place XC U23 World Championships Hafjell/NOR, 3rd place XC Eliminator WC overall
Alessandra Keller	1st place XC European Junior Championships St. Wendel/GER
Nicole Koller	1st place XC World Championships juniors Hafjell/NOR, 2nd place European Championships road juniors Nyon/SUI
Team
Filippo Colombo, Andri Frischknecht, Jolanda Neff, Nino Schurter	2nd place World Championship Team Relay Hafjell/NOR