With his Paris-Roubaix victory, Niki Terpstra was the big favourite to win the Dutch Cyclist of the Year Award. In the end, the prize was given to Tom Dumoulin which left the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider hugely disappointed.

Yesterday Niki Terpstra travelled to Den Bosch with the expectation that he would be named Dutch Cyclist of the Year for the second time in his career. This year the Dutchman won Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Qatar but especially the victory in the Paris-Roubaix classic made him the big favourite to take the Gerrit Schulte Trophy. Instead, the pirze was given to Tom Dumoulin.

"I'm surprised," Terpstra told NOS. "I thought what I've shown this year would be enough."

24-year-old Dumoulin won the title for the first time. In addition to Terptra, Lars Boom, mountain biker Michiel van der Heijden and cross rider Lars van der Haar were his rivals. This year Dumoulin had a breakthrough as an internationally recognized time triallist.

"I'm a little surprised," Dumoulin told NOS. "With Niki in Paris-Roubaix and Lars with his victory in a Tour stage, I had to compete against two riders with two real highlights. I rode the most consistent season. Apparently that was appreciated."

Meanwhile, Terpstra had a hard time hiding his disappointment. The choice of Dumoulin didn't please him.

"Maybe I am not kind enough. Maybe they think back to 2012," he said, referring to his previous win that came after he had critizised the nominees publicly.

The decision was taken by 48 former riders that were all eligible to vote. At the same time, the readers of De Telegraaf had their separate vote and they preferred Terpstra. However, the former riders awarded the prize to Dumoulin who has been descirbes as "the next big thing" by time trial world champion Bradley Wiggins.