2024 UCI Biking Esports World Championship preview: First-of-its-kind dwell last particulars revealed

“We had been searching for a associate prepared to put money into the self-discipline to evolve the game, and MyWhoosh met that customary. They had been prepared to speculate financially and dedicate sources. To not say the others weren’t, actually not. All people was prepared to speculate, however we felt that the funding MyWhoosh was prepared to make would assist legitimise and stabilise the game for the subsequent three years. Easy as that.”

Throughout an interview for the Digital Velo podcast, the UCI’s Esports Coordinator Jacob Fraser shared his perspective on shifting from Zwift to MyWhoosh for the subsequent three UCI Biking Esports World Championship editions. Zwift hosted the three earlier World Championships in 2020, 2022, and 2023 after its 2019 partnership with the UCI laid the groundwork for the brand new self-discipline.

On August seventeenth, 2023, the UCI introduced that digital platform MyWhoosh would host the subsequent three UCI Biking Esports World Championships. The partnership has returned a number of firsts for the fledgling self-discipline, together with a democratic public qualification pathway, efficiency verification of all 200-plus racers within the semi-finals, sturdy anti-doping measures, standardisation of all the sensible trainers, and the primary dwell in-person last. 

The place is the Biking Esports World Championships?

The Biking Esports World Championships will happen on October twenty sixth on the ADNEC Marina Corridor in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

All finalists will compete on MyWhoosh, however from the occasion venue in entrance of a dwell viewers fairly than from dwelling. All 42 opponents are being flown to the venue by the organisers. 

The newly minted triple crown winner Tadej Pogačar and consecutive three-time World Champion Peter Sagan can be in attendance because the 22 male and 20 feminine finalists will combat for the suitable to put on the long-lasting rainbow jersey. Representatives from the UCI and the Worldwide Olympic Committee may even witness the event.

Prize cash

Alongside the world champion title and rainbow jersey, the finalists will compete for a complete prize purse of $60,000, with equal distribution between women and men. It is going to be break up $15,000 for first place, $10,000 for second, and $5,000 for third. 

Efficiency verification, anti-doping, and tools standardisation 

To make sure honest competitors, MyWhoosh and the UCI carried out a spread of efficiency verification processes, requiring athletes to comply with established protocols and directions. 

Based on the UCI, a reporting system and knowledge assortment factors assist establish efficiency authenticity and accuracy, making certain equity for all individuals, as was the case for athletes within the semi-final for the primary time.

“The semi-finals had been deemed successful, and the variety of annulments on this occasion demonstrates MyWhoosh and the UCI’s dedication to thorough efficiency verification throughout all taking part athletes. We will confidently say that each taking part athlete underwent thorough efficiency verification, and the ruleset was utilized persistently and totally.”

Along with sustaining a degree enjoying area by way of complete efficiency verification, honest and credible racing necessitates tools standardisation and dwell in-person efficiency checks, which the UCI has recognized as a key precedence.

“The UCI’s major concern is ensuring now we have a good and bonafide race,” Fraser asserts. “We’re the Worldwide Sporting Physique, and we’re keen on making certain that the game is executed pretty and persistently. This 12 months’s World Championship can have essentially the most sturdy anti-doping measures we’ve ever seen, just because all the athletes can be in a single location, which makes it simpler.”

Representatives from MyWhoosh and the UCI met on the Elite headquarters in Italy in July to check the accuracy and standardise the 30 Elite Justo 2 sensible trainers that the athletes will use within the finals. All sensible trainers will function an “Accepted by UCI” label for the primary time in a world biking esports occasion, making certain an influence accuracy inside an error margin of 1%.

MyWhoosh supplied every finalist with an Elite Justo 2 coach, which was despatched to their properties to assist them get used to the tools earlier than packing their bikes and hopping on an expenses-paid flight to Abu Dhabi.

How did opponents qualify?

For every competitor, the journey to the World Championship last started in March when the UCI rolled out a brand new qualification system based mostly on factors earned through the 2022 and 2023 UCI Biking Esports World Championships, figuring out every nation’s quota.

The UCI allotted ~80% of the beginning spots to Nationwide Federations, every of which then organised qualifier occasions to pick out their representatives to compete within the semi-final. The remaining 20% secured their locations within the semi-finals by way of the MyWhoosh public qualification pathway.

“We are going to all the time have an open qualification pathway,” states Fraser. “We on the UCI imagine firmly that biking esports is likely one of the distinctive disciplines the place anyone can come out of nowhere. It’s a improbable option to get them into the World Championships.”

On September sixth 2024, over 100 feminine and 120 male athletes competed within the semi-finals. Those that completed within the prime 20 had been then mechanically invited to the ultimate in Abu Dhabi. 

As well as, two males acquired wildcard entries. The UCI additionally invited two Ladies’s WorldTour racers with prior success within the Biking Esports World Championship, however they respectfully declined.

UCI Biking Esports World Championships startlists

Within the ladies’s last, China Liv Professional Biking’s Hao Zhang is the one rider from the general public qualification pathway to make the finals. Lou Bates, the previous British Nationwide Hill Climb Champion, stood alongside Brazil’s Gabriela Guerra on the rostrum of the 2024 Zwift Video games. Each seasoned esports opponents demonstrated their prowess by ending 1st and fifth within the semi-final.

Within the males’s race, USA’s Hayden Pucker took the 2nd step of the semi-final podium behind New Zealand’s Ollie Jones. Defending champion Bjørn Andreassen poses a major risk to repeat for traditionally profitable Denmark after qualifying 4th. Former esports world champion and Alpecin Deceuninck rider, Jason Osborne, may even compete. 

Format and programs

The opponents will face a brand new three-stage format designed to check the all-around capabilities of every rider. The intention is to provide each sprinters and climbers an equal likelihood of success.

Stage One: The Dash 

Stage one, generally known as “The Dash,” takes riders on a 1.7-kilometre flat circuit that includes a velodrome that foreshadows the venue presently beneath development on Hudayriyat Island in Abu Dhabi for the 2029 UCI Monitor World Championships.

Impressed by Components One, racers can have fifteen minutes to publish their quickest time by way of a 300-meter timed section, and a dwell leaderboard will showcase the instances. Whereas it could appear simple, the stage is very tactical and units the dramatic tone for what’s to come back.

Riders can wait till the final second to dash, stopping others from setting a quicker time, or choose to make use of the group’s draft for an early quick time and preserve vitality.

Sweden fields a six-woman squad to help Highway and Esports Champion Mika Soderstrom. Her distinctive mix of sprinting means and punchy energy, mixed along with her esports expertise, makes her a formidable contender for the rostrum.

Jacqueline Godbe, the one US rider to step onto a World Championship podium, will want a stable dash to beat a scarcity of MyWhoosh expertise and safe a podium repeat. Belgium’s Stefan van Aelst has a robust kick that would propel him onto the rostrum within the males’s race. 

The quickest rider will earn 40 factors, with the full reducing to 2 factors for the slowest or unluckiest sprinter. The riders will line up for the subsequent stage after a 20-minute refuel and restoration interval.

Stage Two: The Strategist 

Stage two, known as “The Strategist,” includes a single 9km circuit with a roughly four-minute climb at 2.1 kilometres, adopted by a swift descent, a number of kilometres of rolling hills, and a 1km flat stretch to the end line.

Twenty factors can be found on the base and summit of the climb, with double factors awarded on the end line. A most of 80 factors are on provide.

With factors accessible on the base of the climb, riders can go for a full-gas dash to the preliminary prime, which requires an intense effort to stick with the elite group. This technique permits them to gather factors as they crest the climb and compete for priceless end line factors. 

Severe contenders comparable to New Zealand’s Kate McCarthy and Kristen Kulchinsky, the US Nationwide Esports Champion who lately set the course file at Mt. Washington, might rise to the event and showcase their expertise to the dwell crowd.

Poland’s Michal Kaminski has centered on this second, whereas the hearts of many biking esports followers can be with Belgium’s Lionel Vujasin. Each riders have the power and technique wanted to compete for the title.

Stage Three: All Out 

In Stage Three, titled “All Out,” riders will deal with 4 laps of a 4km circuit, together with a pointy ~50-second climb to the beginning/end line.

Every lap options an intermediate dash level on the crest of the climb, with double factors awarded on the end. This last stage affords a most of 100 factors, making late-race ways essential on this battle of attrition and technique.

Three-time World Lengthy Distance Duathlon Champion and seasoned MyWhoosh racer Merle Brunnée from Germany, can be a robust contender if the tempo stays excessive. Her spectacular engine and boundless endurance might play a major position within the race.

Jason Osborne, the inaugural 2020 Biking Esports World Champion, has made the rostrum in each version. The previous Olympic-medalist rower lately introduced his choice to depart Alpecin-Deceuninck to pay attention absolutely on biking esports, aiming so as to add one other rainbow jersey to his assortment.

Who will win the 2024 UCI Biking Esports World Championships?

The margins between the world’s prime esports athletes are razor-thin. We gained’t know who will put on the long-lasting rainbow bands till the final rider crosses the end line, however the course, format, and competitors will be sure that one of the best all-around performer takes the title.

New Zealand’s Ollie Jones, the primary males’s Zwift Academy winner, lately left his highway group to commit absolutely to biking esports. Switzerland’s Kathrin Fuhrer, the 2024 Zwift Video games Champion, is a member of the brand new breed of full-time esports riders.

Creator’s Picks: Ladies’s Podium

1. Kathrin Fuhrer (Switzerland) 🥇
2. Lou Bates (Nice Britain) 🥈
3. Mary Kate McCarthy (New Zealand) 🥉
4. Mika Soderstrom (Sweden)
5. Gabriela Guerra (Brazil)

Creator’s Picks: Males’s Podium

1. Ollie Jones (New Zealand) 🥇
2. Hayden Pucker (USA) 🥈
3. Jason Osborne (Germany) 🥉
4. Lionel Vujasin (Belgium)
5. Bjørn Andreassen (Denmark

For the athletes, success means standing atop the rostrum, proudly sporting the rainbow jersey that signifies their dominance because the world’s prime biking esports racer. The UCI defines success this fashion, says Fraser.

“The technical infrastructure permits the racers to shine in their very own proper, feeling that that they had a good and bonafide likelihood to win the rainbow stripes with no drawback outdoors of their very own means that day. 

“From the fan perspective, I need some thrilling racing. The Rainbow Jersey is such a novel award. Hopefully, the subsequent technology of cyclists could be impressed by esports athletes on the World Championship degree.”

 Learn how to watch the Biking Esports World Championships

For these in Abu Dhabi, admission is free for the occasion. The doorways will open at 4pm GST, and the occasion will begin at 5pm GST.

Alternatively, you may catch all the motion on MyWhoosh on YouTube and MyWhooshLive on Twitch.

Cyclingnews can be on the bottom in Abu Dhabi to cowl the race and converse to key attendees. 

Alternatively, this writer is working a separate LiveBlog on TheZommunique.com, the place you’ll find an intimate behind-the-scenes take a look at the tradition surrounding the primary dwell in-person biking esports last, as seen by way of the eyes of racers, broadcasters, journalists and influencers.