Stefan Küng is the Swiss cyclist of the year for the first time in his young career. The BMC rider professional succeeds Fabian Cancellara (Trek) who announced his retirement in 2016 at the Swiss Cycling Awards in Zurich. Among the women, Jolanda Neff repeated last year's win. In the junior category, track specialist Théry Shir took the honours.

In February, 21-year-old Küng won the gold medal in the individual pursuit at the Track World Championships in Paris. Then he showed himself on the road during his first pro year with several strong performances and celebrated a stage win at the Tour de Romandie.

He had a bad crash on the 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia in which he broke a thoracic vertebra broke and was forced into a month-long break. In the end of September, he won gold in the team time trial of at the Road World Championships in Richmond with his BMC teammates.

22-year old Neff won the gold medal at both the European Championships in Chies d'Alpago and the European Games in Baku. Furthermore, she won the Mountain Bike World Cup for the second year in a row.

In Athens, Shir won the omnium and madison (together with Frank Pasche) at the U23 European Track Championships. In the Elite Championships in Grenchen, he also won the silver medal in the Team Pursuit.