Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates – XRG): 18 wins
The Mexican prodigy confirmed every ounce of hype that followed him from his junior years, taking an extraordinary 2nd place overall at the 2025 Giro d’Italia after leading the race for long stretches. He added 18 victories across the season, including multiple stage wins and late-season dominance on Italian soil. Analysts compared his all-terrain range to Tadej Pogacar, and by October, Del Toro was sitting third in the UCI World Rankings — the youngest rider ever to do so.
At just 21, he’s already being spoken about as the next Grand Tour superstar.
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe): 0 wins
Germany’s new climbing sensation stunned the sport by finishing third overall at the 2025 Tour de France, right behind Pogacar and Vingegaard — and on debut, no less. He also claimed the white jersey for best young rider, plus podiums at one-week races including Paris–Nice and the Dauphiné.
Even German cycling legend Jens Voigt said Lipowitz had proven himself “the best of the rest” behind the sport’s two dominant Grand Tour champions. Now he’ll head into 2026 potentially poised as Red Bull’s next GC leader, sharing the stage with Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic.
Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL): 1 win
Britain’s brightest new GC hope came of age in July. At 22, Onley defied expectations to finish fourth overall at the Tour de France, less than a minute from the podium after matching the sport’s biggest names in the high mountains. He also stood on the Tour de Suisse podium, proving that his Grand Tour breakthrough was no fluke.
The youngest Brit ever to finish top 10 in Paris, Onley has firmly established himself as a genuine GC rider for the next decade.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team): 0 wins
Still a teenager for much of the year, the French phenomenon delivered one of the most remarkable debut seasons of the decade. He won the Tour de l’Avenir, finished top 10 at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and clinched bronze at the European Championships behind Pogacar and Evenepoel.
Seixas is already being hailed as France’s long-awaited Grand Tour heir — and he hasn’t even started one yet. Expect that to change in 2026.
Seixas celebrates his elite European bronze
Paul Magnier (Soudal – Quick-Step): 19 winsNo rider won more often than Paul Magnier in 2025, except Pogacar. The 21-year-old French sprinter racked up 19 victories, including five from five stages at the Tour of Guangxi, plus wins at Dwars door het Hageland, GP de Fourmies, and across Eastern Europe.
He proved he’s more than just raw speed: Magnier survived gravel and cobbles to win selective classics-style races, then bossed bunch sprints on the WorldTour stage. France’s next sprint king has arrived.
Magnier has been a winning machine in 2025
Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike): 12 wins
Another British talent to burst through, Brennan became a WorldTour stage winner in his debut season — triumphing at both the Tour de Pologne and Deutschland Tour, before sealing the Tour of Norway overall title. He also impressed at Catalunya, where he stepped in for Vingegaard and won a mountain stage against seasoned pros.
At 20, he already has more than a dozen pro wins and the look of Visma’s next all-terrain finisher — equally lethal in reduced sprints or punchy climbs.
A season that reshaped the future
From Grand Tour podiums to first pro wins, the 2025 season didn’t just introduce a single new star — it unveiled an entire generation. The balance of power in men’s cycling is shifting fast, and these seven riders are at the centre of it.
So, who impressed you most? Vote below for your Breakthrough Rider of the Year.