Thomas, 32, beat Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton into second place, with England striker Harry Kane third. As ever with Spoty, there was just as much debate over those who failed to make the cut as those who did. Georgia Hall, who won her first major title with a two-shot victory at the Women's British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes, was omitted from the six-person shortlist - her contribution to the sporting year given just 10 seconds of airtime during the glitzy ceremony - as was Tyson Fury, who climbed off the canvas earlier this month to secure a dramatic draw with heavyweight champion Bbc sport world cup Wilder out in Los Angeles. In a new departure this year, the shortlist was cut to just six athletes who were only revealed live on the night. And for the first time in years, there was no breakdown of the final vote afterwards, meaning it was impossible to bbc sport world cup just how close the voting had been. Athlete Dina Asher-Smith, skeleton athlete Lizzy Yarnold and cricketer James Anderson were the three other nominees on the list drawn up by a 12-member panel of former athletes and industry experts. Rather incredibly, the Cardiff-born rider also becomes the fourth cyclist to win the award in just 10 years following in the wheel tracks of Sir Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins. Thomas went on to thank his wife Sara and his team manager Sir Dave Brailsford. He did, though, thank his all of his fans for voting. A big Arsenal supporter, Thomas had appealed for them to back him up against Kane. And he clearly benefited from being the only Welsh nominee on the shortlist, with a number of high-profile Welshmen urging their followers to vote for him including Sam Warburton, George North and Rob Brydon. There was outrage on social media over the exclusion of Fury from the shortlist. The boxer had been fourth favourite with the bookies heading into the event. Fury may have suffered from the fact that the list was drawn up three weeks ago, before his fight with Wilder actually took place. Although the panel reconvened in the wake of that fight, and discussed amending the list, it was decided that a nomination forwas sufficient recognition. It is difficult to escape the impression, however, that past bbc sport world cup may have been a factor. Fury also served a two-year doping ban after testing positive for a banned steroid in February 2015. The final word went to Thomas. Asked why it was that cycling seemed to produce so many winners, he shook his head. Honestly, when I bbc sport world cup up on stage I was shaking a little bit. I am lucky to have come into cycling at the time I did. I used to go to the leisure centre for a swim and then I started riding my bike. This is for my wife as much as for me. I am really lucky to have her. My family is a massive inspiration to me. I always just focused on myself as a bike rider. But hearing stories like Tyson and Billy you realise that we do inspire people. And we take just as much pride in hearing that people are inspired, getting on their bikes, doing sport. I take great pride in representing Britain and Wales. It has been an amazing year for British sport and long may it continue. I have I should be the heavyweight champion of the world. I wanted to show everyone that everyone can get up. You must always get up. I wanted to show the world that you must get up and fight back. If I can do it - a big 18 stone heavyweight champion - anyone can. Come out and get help. Freya Ridings with an excellent musical accompaniment for voice and piano. We were so proud to have you as our coach, thank you from every England fan. Thanks to the support team. Ultimately we did not win. Until we all win together we won't be satisfied. But sport is about bringing people together and inspiring people and we did that. We connected with the fans and made everyone proud. I was so proud of the team, the gaffer, the staff. We wanted to stick together and make the nation proud. There was a disconnection with the fans for long periods and that was understandable. People really responded to how they represented their country. Tennis genius, feminist, activist, leader, pioneer, icon. Just an all-round great, for my money. Brilliant, brilliant broadcaster as well. A montage tells the story of the Battle of the Sexes and all that. The most wickets by any fast bowler. I just love it, I want to keep going as long as I can. To play for 15, 20 years. It is the pinnacle of your career and we want to get them back. In 90 mins, they beat Tunisia, Panama and Sweden. And then lost to a country more than 10 times smaller. Tyson Fury, pictured above, is a 10-1 shot to win it, which would surely be a fascinating development in a sensational year for him on the comeback trail. The favourite at time of writing, however, is Harry Kane, the England football striker who brought home the World Cup Golden Boot for the Three Lions. He and his England teammates are surely a solid option for the Team of the Year award. Geraint Thomas, the cycling hero, is also in the running for the individual award, it remains to be seen if his candidacy will be harmed by the bad vibes currently encircling Team Sky. Also fancied to make at least the podium is Lewis Hamilton, the F1 great. There's a new format this year: previously people were allowed to vote off a longlist in the days leading up to the beano, which was fine but did lead to slightly odd results when fans of very niche sports all colluded to vote Keith Trousers, the tiddlywinks ledge, the leading light in British sport. Over people that anyone had actually heard of. But that's all over now, basically we cannot be trusted to vote on anything, as we saw with the Boaty McBoatface debacle. That is the only current known example of a situation where maybe it would be better for the British public not to vote on things. The action, presented by Gary Lineker and, I dunno, presumably Clare Balding, will be on telly from 7pm and we will be following it all here.
