Everyone thought it was a huge gamble to make a team/bike change so late in his racing career, but to Eli Tomac it was simply a calculated gamble that ended up paying big dividends for the veteran racer. Tomac went on to win two of this country’s most prestigious motorcycle-racing championships: the Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the outdoor 450cc Pro Motocross Championships. And, of course, he was also a member of this year’s winning U.S. Motocross of Nations Championship team.
Eli Tomac. The 2024 Cycle News Rider of the Year? No doubt.
By Eric Johnson | Photography by BrownDogWilson
Yes, 2022 was a fantastic year for the multifold champion Eli Tomac. Now viewed as an absolute veteran of the sport, fans the nation over rooted the Colorado native on in both the football and baseball stadiums across the country as well as at the sweeping natural-terrain circuits of the U.S. in what was indeed the single greatest year of his storied racing career. Going into the 2022 racing season, he had two goals in mind: winning the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and the outdoor AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championships—mission accomplished. He was also the recipient of the fan-voted 2022 ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) award as Best Men’s Action Sports Athlete. But that wasn’t all. The cherry on top was helping guide the U.S. Team to victory at the
the Motocross of Nations. Yes, it was a spectacular year for Tomac. It really could not have gone any better. As a result, the Cycle News staff unanimously named Eli Tomac our 2022 CN Rider of the Year. It’s been a while since we had it so easy.
We caught up with Mr. Tomac—who was back home in Colorado with wife Jessica and children Lev and Noah—just days before his 30th birthday and talked a bit about the 2022 season and then some.
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