At the end of each season, Cyclingnews take a look back through every sprint of the season, using our unique points formula to objectively rank the top fast men of the season.
Last year, Jasper Philipsen came out on top of the rankings, just 165 points ahead Mark Cavendish despite missing out to the Manxman several times during the Tour de France. The pair, who racked up 19 wins between them in 2021, were well ahead of the rest in the race to be crowned the top sprinter of the season.
This year things have been very different, with one rider proving to be the undisputed fastest sprinter of the 2022 season.
We'll leave further analysis until later on so we can get to those long-awaited top-ranking spots. Frist, a quick note on the formula used to calculate the Cyclingnews sprinter of the year. As usual, we've done our best to cut out results that weren't achieved in large bunch sprints.
That means that wins like Mathieu van der Poel's opener at the Giro d'Italia, Alexander Kristoff's solo at Scheldeprijs, and Wout van Aert's solo triumph in Calais at the Tour de France don't count here.
Results from groups of around 20 riders and up do score points, with the focus being on mass bunch sprints. As ever, races from the .1 level all the way up to the WorldTour are counted, with points awarded on a sliding scale.
Without further ado, here are Cyclingnews' top sprinters of 2022.
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) celebrates victory in the final stage of the Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Points: 2,180
Wins: 9
Change from 2021: No change
For the second season in a row, Jasper Philipsen is the best sprinter in the world, according to the Cyclingnews ranking system.
The Belgian may not have reached double figures, and Fabio Jakobsen may have struck six more times, but Philipsen won where it mattered most and also collected a huge number of podiums, including 11 runner-up finishes.
The Tour de France swings things in Philipsen's favour. He was the stand-out sprinter of this year's race with two stage wins – the only sprinter to win more than one.
It was not a sprint-friendly Tour but after he, Jakobsen and Dylan Groenewegen all bagged one, Philipsen took the final showdown on the Champs Elysées – the most iconic of victories for a sprinter. After the heartbreak of all his near-misses at the 2021 Tour, this was also a redemption story.
Philipsen's 2022 tally was also bolstered by his first race of the season, the WorldTour-level UAE Tour, where he picked up two wins in a stacked sprinting field.
Elsewhere, he won stages at the Denmark Tour, Belgium Tour, and Tour of Turkey, before rounding out his campaign with one-day triumphs at Omloop van het Houtland Middelkerke-Lichtervelde and Paris-Bourges.
"There are a lot of really strong sprinters so it's hard nowadays to really be the very best because everyone is performing at such a high level," Philipsen told Cyclingnews.
"Normally I will always be there – the top two or three should be always possible. This year I had 11 second places and nine victories, so it's still good, but if you can turn some of those second places into wins it would be even better."
Arnaud Démare win a sprint at the a Route d'Occitanie (Image credit: Getty Images)
Points: 1,160
Wins: 7
Change from 2021: Up 7 places
While Philipsen was the Tour de France top sprinter, Arnaud Démare shone brightest at the Giro d'Italia. With the prestige of Grand Tours counting for most in our ranking, that has helped the Frenchman into second place.
Démare picked up three wins in Italy, along with the points jersey. Mark Cavendish and Alberto Dainese both picked up a win but Démare had the better of them more generally to take his career Giro tally to eight wins, to go with his two at the Tour.
Démare's season burst into life in Italy. Before that, he was winless in the first months of 2022. He was left out of Groupama-FDJ's Tour de France squad that was built around David Gaudu, but he went on to pick up wins at the Route d'Occitanie, Tour de Pologne, GP d'Isbergues, and Paris-Tours.
Like Philipsen, he had more than his fair share of near-misses, which have bolstered his ranking. He finished runner-up on nine occasions, seven of them coming in the final stretch from August to October, including at the European Championship won by Jakobsen.
Démare once again packed a punch but his team also deserve credit as one of the top lead-outs in the peloton. They were most impressive at the Giro, with Ramon Sinkeldam playing a particularly important role. However, there could be cause for concern next year as Sinkeldam is set to leave the team along with fellow lead-out man Jacopo Guarnieri.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) sprints to victory in green on stage 8 of the Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Points: 1,580
Wins: 4
Change from 2021: Up 2 places
Although much more than a pure sprinter, Van Aert nevertheless muscles past a host of fastmen onto our podium.
The Belgian won nine times in 2022, among them time trials and major Classics such as the E3 Classic, where he waltzed home alongside teammate Christophe Laporte. Four of those victories count towards this ranking: stage 8 of the Tour de France, his brace at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Bretagne Classic. His tally is also bolstered by the green jersey he took home from the Tour.
Unlike last year, Van Aert didn't directly beat a big-name rival in a traditional full-bunch sprint. Instead, he made his impact in the stages that were just too difficult for the pure fastmen, such as stage 8 of the Tour, where the reduced peloton was full of climbers.
The wins from biggest bunches came at the Dauphiné, which had a fairly weak sprinting field. But that doesn't take away from Van Aert, who once again underlined his astonishing versatility.
Besides, he was still in the thick of it in the traditional bunch sprints of the Tour, collecting three runner-up finishes in which he got the better of the biggest names - just not all on the same day.
You sense that if Van Aert were to put all his eggs in the sprinting basket, with dedicated support, he might top this list. But time trials, Classics, and mountain stages don't win themselves.
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) wins on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Points: 1,510
Wins: 5
Change from 2021: Up 11 places
Pedersen is not the purest of sprinters but he was so quick this year he makes the top five of our ranking and knocks on the door of the podium. And that's without counting his stage win at the Tour de France, which came from a small breakaway.
The Dane's count of 10 wins for the season is muddied slightly by the wide range of terrain he exploited. But while big Classics victories were missing, it was the bunch finishes where he shone like never before.
Pedersen might not be favoured against some names on this list in a flat drag race but he exploited the punchier finishes with his explosive power. Although these weren't flat, most of them weren't hilly enough to be classed as selective finishes, and he emerged as the clear leader in this particular aspect of sprinting.
The Vuelta a España proved to be fertile terrain and Pedersen struck three times, also collecting the points jersey. The draggy sprint at Paris-Nice was another highlight, with Bryan Coquard, Wout van Aert, and Jasper Philipsen put to the sword.
But Pedersen was not just limited to the hillier terrain. On the flat, he was right up there, showcasing the fastest finishing of his career to date. He beat Mark Cavendish and Olav Kooij at the Circuit de la Sarthe, and he also had numerous near-misses in the wide-open sprints at the Tour and Vuelta.
At the Tour, he was twice on the podium in a race that only featured five bunch sprints, while at the Vuelta he was four times a runner-up on top of his three wins.
The balance between sprinting and Classics will be an even greater consideration going into 2023.
Fabio Jakobsen will be seen by many as the fastest sprinter, pound-for-pound, in the world. He even won 13 races this year, more than any other sprinter. And yet the Dutchman finds himself down in fifth place in the Cyclingnews ranking.
Jakobsen won the opening sprint stage of the Tour de France and looked set to dominate the bunch gallops but had little impact thereafter. He struggled more than anyone else in the hills, with his 97th place in Cahors in stage 19 the only time since stage 5 that he finished in the top 100. After fighting just to make time cuts in the high mountains, he was out of the bunch for the sprint in Carcassonne and by the time the race reached Paris his legs were dulled to the point he could only manage 15th.
A win on debut accomplishes a mission but it hardly made a resounding success of the decision to leave Mark Cavendish at home after he won four stages and the points jersey the previous year.
Elsewhere, Jakobsen was more his normal self, and bounced back to claim the European road race title, and with it the golden stars jersey for the year. At the start of the year he was prolific, with braces at Valencia and Algarve before taking out Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne ahead of Caleb Ewan. He also picked up a number of lower-level wins to keep QuickStep's ever-impressive win tally rolling.
The feeling remains that Jakobsen is the most feared sprinter but he'll perhaps need to improve his climbing and recovery if he's to start bagging the Grand Tour numbers that count so much for this ranking and, more importantly, in defining the careers of great sprinters.
Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) wins stage 1 of the Tour of Denmark 2022 (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)
Points: 1,275
Wins: 10
Change from 2021: Up 30 places
After turning professional in 2021 at the age of 19, Olav Kooij made his breakthrough this year, indicating he could be headed for the very top of the sprinting ranks.
The Dutchman struck 10 times in direct sprints, while multiple successes at Circuit Sarthe and ZLM Tour handed him two more wins in the form of the overall titles.
Kooij came close at the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico at the start of the year before hitting his stride with two wins at Sarthe, one at the Tour de Hongrie, and three at ZLM. With confidence boosted by those lower-level wins, in the second half of the season he moved through the gears. First came the stage win at the WorldTour-level Tour de Pologne, and then two stages at the Tour of Denmark.
But it was the Munsterland Giro at the start of October that perhaps truly signalled Kooij's arrival. Jasper Philipsen, Sam Bennett, Fabio Jakobsen, and Dylan Groenewegen were all in the top 10 that day. In fact, Kooij had twice beaten Philipsen at the Denmark Tour.
Kooij has delivered on the hype in the first two years of his career and he seems to still have some way to go. The next step will surely be a Grand Tour debut in 2023, possibly at the Giro d'Italia, while Jumbo-Visma will have to work out, with his contract expiring in 12 months, if and how they support him in the long-term.
Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) wins stage 3 of the Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Points: 900
Wins: 7
Change from 2021: Up 17 places
Dylan Groenewegen clocks in with a solid season in tumultuous times. He had already come back from the nine-month ban served for causing Jakobsen's near-fatal crash at the 2020 Tour de Pologne, but then suddenly last December he switched teams. Jumbo-Visma released him from his contract and he joined BikeExchange-Jayco, with a whole new set-up, equipment, teammates and culture to get used to.
He didn't win his first sprint but he effectively hit the ground running with two stages at the Saudi Tour. However, he struggled after that at the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice before missing out to Tim Merlier at De Panne. Lower-level wins at Hongrie and Veenendaal Classic steadied the ship before an infuriating and slightly comical Critérium du Dauphiné, where he was almost the only pure sprinter but was ultimately dropped from the bunch on every climb.
He and his teammates took it all on the chin, though, saying it served a higher purpose ahead of the Tour, and redemption came on stage 3 with a searing sprint into Sondeborg. In a Tour of limited opportunities, he missed out to Philipsen on the final day in Paris.
From then on, Groenwegen recorded a number of podiums in lower-level races. He might not be back to his pre-ban best of 2019 but it was a decent showing in new colours and the expectation will be for bigger and better things next year.
Two in the top-10 for BikeExchange-Jayco, courtesy of a rider they nearly let go last year and are letting go this year. The 23-year-old Australian signed a one-year contract extension last November and went on to enjoy the best season of his career, with wins at the Volta a Catalunya and Vuelta a España the highlights.
Groves, a little like another of his teammates, Michael Matthews, is the sort of sprinter who likes some hills to weed out the fastest finishers, or at least dull their legs. But he was faster and stronger all around in his third full season.
He came close in Oman and twice placed third at Tirreno before taking his WorldTour-level breakthrough at Catalunya, where he put Phil Bauhaus to the sword. In repeat battles at the Tour of Turkey, he got the better of the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Caleb Ewan, and Sam Bennett on stage 2, in what was his consolidation as a top sprinter.
The summer passed without note but Groves earned a Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta and rewarded handsomely with a scorching sprint on stage 11, showing fast legs and a cool head as rivals chaotically launched early and went over his lead-out man.
Groves will head to Alpecin-Deceuninck in 2023 where he'll replace Tim Merlier and take the role of second sprinter behind Philipsen. After a tough couple of years, he has made his breakthrough and there should be more to come.
An absolutely sorry season for Ewan, and it will be no consolation that he squeezes into our top 10. When he wasn't crashing others were crashing in front of him and he must think the only logical explanation is that he was cursed this year.
Ewan started with a victory at the Saudi Tour and when wins followed at Tour du Var, Tirreno-Adriatico, and in Turkey, it seemed like business as usual. But then the Grand Tours were a complete write-off. Once again, Ewan opted to ride half a Giro then a full Tour, but unlike last year, when he struck twice in Italy, this time he left empty-handed and called it "the Giro from hell".
He crashed in sight of the line on the opening stage, was out of position on stage 3, and lost in a photo finish to Démare on stage 6. He was physically under the weather and fighting to make time cut on stages 9 and 10 and after placing fifth in the stage 11 sprint he pulled the plug.
After being beaten by Jakobsen and Elstendenronde, it was more of the same at the Tour. His derailleur got bent in on stage 2, he was nearly crashed by Van Aert and Sagan on stage 3, and he then suffered through the Alps. A freak crash while chasing to set up a sprint in Saint Etienne was another big blow and he limped through the Pyrenees before rounding out a bruising Tour with eighth in Paris.
There was more. His results meant Ewan was not selected for the World Championships in his native Australia, He took a win at GP de Fourmies but in reality the end of 2022 couldn't come soon enough.
Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) at the UAE Tour in February 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Points: 730
Wins: 4
Change from 2021: Down 8 places
After the roaring success of 2021, in which he rose from the ashes and won four stages of the Tour de France to tie Eddy Mercx's all-time record, it was a fairly subdued season from the man widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time.
There were four wins plus a second British title - which, after his years of struggles, underlined he can still operate at the highest level. However, his season hinged on the Tour, and he didn't get to ride it.
Cavendish's season fizzled out after that and you can only wonder how things might have turned out had he got a ride in the biggest race of the season. Jakobsen won a stage in a Tour of slim pickings for sprinters but Cavendish's non-selection still proved controversial, partly for the history that was at stake and partly for the form Cavendish was in.
He'd won at the Tour of Oman, UAE Tour, Milano-Torino, and the Giro d'Italia and had just become British champion in sensational style, shaking off his sprinter's jacket and attacking from the gun before picking off his final two rivals at the line.
With the British jersey on his shoulders, he made one final public plea to his team boss but it fell on deaf ears, and Cavendish's season fizzled out from there.
Cavendish took his Giro tally to 16 stage wins, underlining the sheer depth of his palmarès, but he'll always be judged against the Tour, and his next priority turned out to be to find a team where he could try and break that record outright in 2023.
With B&B Hotels in crisis, Cavendish's future remains up in the air, but there was nothing in 2022 to suggest that number 35 is beyond his reach.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
