The glamorous Gala was attended by many of the star performers from throughout the 2015 road cycling season, with the event commencing shortly after the conclusion of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour, which was held over four days.

Italy’s Elia Viviani had sprinted to victory at the end of the final stage on the Yas Marina Formula 1 Circuit, but it was the overall winner of the race, Colombia’s Esteban Chaves, who received the first award of the evening.

"I'm very proud of this first edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour, it was a great challenge to organise, but I am convinced that we proved ourselves up to the task,” said Aref Hamad Al Awani, General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council, who hosted the event in collaboration with the UCI and the United Arab Emirates Cycling Federation.

“My compliments go to its first champion, Esteban Chaves.

“Esteban, you rode a courageous race and climbed magnificently on the Jabel Hafeet stage.”

Focus then shifted to victors at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships which took place last month in Richmond and having secured team time trial gold in front of a home crowd, the American BMC Racing squad were honoured as was the individual men's champion Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus.

The charismatic Slovakian Peter Sagan, who had opted to ignore the formal dress code, then received an award by UCI President Brian Cookson, after winning the men’s road race title with an impressive late attack.

With the women’s road race world champion and World Cup victor Lizzie Armitstead of Britain unable to attend to collect her honours, the focus shifted from Sagan to another jovial figure of the sport in Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Although the Briton was unable to attend, due to preparing for this week’s European Track Cycling Championships, he left a typically comical recorded message to the packed audience to accept his award for breaking the men’s hour record in June, although America’s Molly Shaffer Van Houwelling was able to pick up her trophy having set a new women’s mark in September.

Alberto Contador was also honoured for claiming the overall victory at the Giro d’Italia in the first Grand Tour of the season, while Britain’s Chris Froome’s second triumph in three years at the Tour de France saw him join his Spanish rival on stage.

Italy’s Fabio Aru completed the line-up of Grand Tour winners after he won his first Vuelta a España in August, having seen off the challenge of The Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin, who received a fair play trophy.

Additionally Alejandro Valverde picked up the WorldTour individual title after proving the most consistent rider during the season, with his country Spain earning the national award and Movistar securing the team classification.

“Our inaugural UCI Cycling Gala enabled us to pay tribute to the athletes who made the headlines and graced the podiums in 2015,” said Cookson.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to gather together some of the biggest stars of cycling for a true celebration of our sport.

“The fact that we could organise this event to coincide with the highly successful Abu Dhabi Tour made the occasion all the more special.”

Germany’s Team Giant-Alpecin were awarded the title of Most Friendly Media Team, while France’s Jean-Paul Ollivier was given an outstanding cycling journalism honour during the evening's proceedings.

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