With Thibaut Pinot's solo victory at Il Lombardia last Saturday came the end of the 2018 professional cycling season. Yes, there's the matter of the final of the Tour of Guangxi out in China still to be contested but for cycling's biggest and best talents, the season will be over and it will be time to consider the year just gone and the newest ambitions over the next 12 months.
Unlike years previous, 2018 wasn't dominated by one rider. From Daryl Impey's win at the Tour Down Under back in January, the spread of riders gracing the top step has been fairly even, shared between riders used to victory and some finally breaking through to the upper echelons of the sport.
While cycling's five Monuments presented five different winners from five different countries, the year's three Grand Tours were taken by three men riding underneath the same flag.
While no rider could dominate, a few teams certainly did. Nobody could match Quick-Step Floors who have 71 victories from 14 different riders from 21 countries, while Team Sky took two Grand Tours with two different riders.
This lack of individual domination hasn't stopped us, however, from looking at which riders really stood above the rest this season so below Cyclist counts down the top 10 riders of the 2018 season.
10. Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors)
Spring seems a lifetime ago but if you cast your mind back to the cobbles and crosswinds of Belgium and France you will remember that Quick-Step Floors's Niki Terpstra was particularly impressive.
It all started with a victory at Le Samyn before E3 Harelbeke and then a top 10 at Dwars door Vlaanderen. Then came big races, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
The 34-year-old made use of his slighter frame to escape on the Kruisberg during De Ronde before riding 25 kilometres alone to victory in his second career Monument, adding to his 2014 Paris-Roubaix title.
Fast forward a week and Terpstra then finished third at Paris-Roubaix to crown off an impressive Spring Classics campaign.
2018 honours
1st - Tour of Flanders; 1st - E3-Harelbeke; 1st - Le Samyn; 1st - team time trial World Championships
9. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)
If it wasn't for victory in the World Championships road race, you could have labelled Valverde's 2018 as a disappointment.
Incredible when you consider he has 14 victories this year and is fast approaching the age of 40. But when you've tasted so much success so regularly expectations are high and a first victory-less Ardennes campaign since 2013 speaks volumes.
Luckily two stages of the Vuelta a Espana rekindled his year and victory in Innsbruck to take the rainbow jersey reminded us that Valverde is no closer to retirement.
2018 honours
1st - World Championships road race; 1st - Stages 2 & 8 Vuelta a Espana; 1st - Stages 2 & 4 and overall Volta a Catalunya
8. Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb)
It's good that Tom Dumoulin can see the funny side of things this season because it's been a year of 'What ifs?'
Runner-up spots at the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and in the individual time trial World Championships, plus 4th at the road race World Championships.
If things had fallen differently, the dashing Dutchman could have had one of the most dominating seasons of all time. Alas, it was not to be and Tom became the bridesmaid of 2018.
However, two Grand Tour podiums did prove his 2017 Giro was not a fluke and he's definitely going to enter next year's Tour de France as a hot favourite.
2018 honours
1st - Stage 1 and 2nd overall Giro d'Italia; 1st - Stage 20 and 2nd overall Tour de France; 2nd - World Championships individual time trial; 2nd - World Championships team time trial
7. Chris Froome (Team Sky)
Seventh seems quite low for a Grand Tour winner but compared to seasons gone by, Chris Froome's 2018 was ok, not spectacular.
He was mighty impressive at the Giro. Coming back from the depths of defeat to a historic pink jersey after slaying the competition on the slopes of the Colle de la Finestre and also taking a win on Monte Zoncolan.
But three victories were all he managed this year and he was outshone by teammate Geraint Thomas at the Tour de France meaning that the 33-year-old will have to wait at least one more year until securing a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey, if that ever happens.
2018 honours
1st - Stages 14 & 20 and overall Giro d'Italia
6. Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo)
Hello, it looks like we have our newest Grand Tour contender in the shape of former ski jumper turned pro cyclist, Primoz Roglic.
On his first GC Grand Tour tilt, he finished fourth overall and even took a mountain stage in the Pyrenees. This came off the back of three consecutive one-week stage race overall wins at the Tour of the Basque Country, Tour de Romandie and Tour of Slovenia.
He also likes to attack a lot, like at Il Lombardia over the weekend, which makes him quite fun to watch unlike many of his rivals.
Cyclist expects big things from Primoz in 2019.
2018 honours
1st - Stage 4 and overall Tour of the Basque Country; 1st - Tour de Romandie; 1st - Stage 19 Tour de France
5. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors)
Julian Alaphilippe recently told me that he'd rather attack for the win and fail than sit in the wheels and finish second. It's a refreshing outlook on racing a bike that has proven successful in 2018.
He broke Valverde's Fleche Wallonne spell before sacrificing his own chances so teammate Bob Jungels could win Liege-Bastogne-Liege a few days later.
He took two stages of the Tour de France and then weaved his way into British hearts, dominating the Tour of Britain.
This seems like it could be the first extremely successful season of many for the 26-year-old who could almost set his sight on any race in the WorldTour.
2018 honours
1st - Fleche Wallonne; 1st - Stages 10 & 16 Tour de France; 1st - Stage 3 and overall Tour of Britain
4. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)
Amazing what a change of scenery and a bit of support can do for a rider. Just look at Elia Viviani who moved from Team Sky to Quick-Step Floors and became the world's best sprinter almost overnight.
The Italian took seven Grand Tour stages this year (four at the Giro, three at the Vuelta), the points jersey at the Giro and was by far the most consistent sprinter across the course of the season, much to the delight of team manager Patrick Lefevere who swapped Marcel Kittel for the Italian in last year's winter transfer window.
He also became national champion, took the one-day Three Days of De Panne and overall victory at the Dubai Tour. By far his most successful season so far.
2018 honours
1st - Stages 2, 3, 13 & 17 Giro d'Italia; 1st - Stages 3, 10 & 21 Vuelta a Espana; 1st - Stages 2 & 5 and overall Dubai Tour; 1st - Italian National Championships road race.
3. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
If not for his race victories, Peter Sagan makes the podium for releasing his first autobiography this year despite only being 28-years-old, an impressive feat considering he has so much of his life ahead of him.
He also collaborated with Specialized on some limited edition bikes, helmets and shoes which is a true indicator of when a rider has really made it.
On the bike, it's also been another good year for the Slovakian superstar mainly because he won Paris-Roubaix and doing that is really hard - it's probably the hardest single day of racing each year in the WorldTour.
He also took a record-equalling sixth green points jersey at the Tour de France along with another three stages while also continuing to pop wheelies almost on demand.
2018 honours
1st - Paris-Roubaix; 1st - Stages 2, 5 & 13 Tour de France; 1st - Gent-Wevelgem.
2. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)
We laughed with Simon, we cried with Simon. We commiserated when he capitulated at the Giro d'Italia and we congratulated when he conquered the Vuelta a Espana.
Throughout this season of drama, the young boy from Bury gained a whole load of fans as he came just days away from winning the Giro before then burying demons to win the Vuelta in September employing the same swashbuckling approach to racing in victory and defeat.
It also helps that despite being a proud northerner, Yates has somehow been around Aussie team manager Matt White for so long that he has even developed a bit of a twang on his thick, Lancastrian accent.
2018 honours
1st - Stage 14 and overall Vuelta a Espana; 1st - Stages 9, 11 & 15 Giro d'Italia; 1st - Stage 7 Paris-Nice.
1. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)
Who else was it going to be? Yes, he may have a couple of Olympic gold medals and a one-day Cobbled Classic but this Tour de France was the real making of the Cardiff-born racer.
He finally proved that he was more than just a super-domestique and that he really was capable of victory in the world's biggest cycling race.
He also did it in style with the mountaintop stage victories - one of which was Alpe d'Huez - back to back, the first man to do so since Fausto Coppi.
But what's bigger than the Tour is that, unlike teammate Froome, Thomas is universally accepted by the British public and has helped raise the profile of cycling in the UK back to its 2012 levels.
2018 honours
1st - Stages 11 & 12 and overall Tour de France; 1st - overall Criterium du Dauphine; 1st - National Championships individual time trial
Notable mentions
Michal Valgren for being great at all types of one-day racing; Rohan Dennis for proving he cannot be touched at time trialling; Greg Van Avermaet for having a good season despite it being a bad season; Egan Bernal for proving he is better than everybody despite only being 21-years-old.