UCI Cycling Esports World Championships on February 18: All the info to follow the event

The third edition of the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, organized by Zwift, the global online fitness platform for cyclists, triathletes, and runners, will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2023. 200 of the best cyclists from 23 nations will line up at the start on Zwift’s brand new Scotland map. Specialists in many cycling disciplines, including esports, competitors will be subjected this year to a new race format that promises sensational images and guarantees a particularly breathtaking spectacle.

Below, we reveal the essential information to know about the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships. This will allow you to fully appreciate this historic sporting event.

What is cycling esports? It is one of the cycling disciplines governed by the UCI. 2023 will be the 3rd edition of the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, which began in December 2020. This is when this new discipline was added to the list of UCI-sanctioned events.

Cycling esports is a sports competition where athletes’ real-world efforts power their avatars in the virtual world of Zwift. For this 3rd edition of the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, competitors will compete on the latest generation of Wahoo KICKR Smart Trainers, which intelligently react to changes in virtual terrain and race situations, simulating drafting from other riders and both positive and negative elevation changes.

While Zwifters can usually choose from all road bike and wheel configurations available on Zwift, these options will be neutralized for the competition so that everyone benefits from the same performance characteristics. Furthermore, riders will wear their country’s virtual team kit.

As in all Zwift races, athletes participating in the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships can trigger PowerUps, which doubles the “gamification” of the spectacle and adds strategy and entertainment for spectators. In most Zwift races, PowerUps are random, and athletes must strategize in real-time based on the asset they receive. In the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, all athletes will receive the same PowerUps: the Breakaway Burrito in the first and third races, and the Anvil in the second race. When deployed, the Breakaway Burrito disables drafting for all riders within a small radius around the competitor for 10 seconds, removing a key advantage. The Anvil makes the Zwifter heavier for 30 seconds. The extra weight can be a significant advantage on descents. The second stage of the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships will feature many descents. Because all riders will receive the same PowerUps, the strategy for deploying them will be crucial. These assets can help a rider break away on a climb, win a sprint, or save energy to prepare for the next attack. A complete guide to Zwift PowerUps is available on the application’s website.

Although a recent discipline, cycling esports already has some specialists. These cyclists are formidable competitors on the bike, but they have also learned to master the unique tactics inherent in esports races on Zwift. Many of them participate in the WTRL Zwift Racing League. Unlike traditional UCI Cycling World Championships, the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships offer a unique qualification path that allows any Zwifter to qualify and represent their National Federation through a series of continental qualification races.

The winners of the men’s and women’s events will be awarded the UCI Cycling Esports World Champion jersey, adorned with the coveted rainbow stripes. The two lucky winners will have the right to wear a physical jersey in sanctioned esports races until the next UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in 2024. In parallel, they will also be able to wear a digital version of the UCI Cycling Esports World Champion rainbow jersey on the Zwift platform.

Format and Races

Zwift and the UCI have collaborated to create a brand new race format for the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships. The new multidisciplinary format includes three races contested over a 75-minute period. The first of the three races, called The Punch, will take place on Rolling Highlands, a 14.1-kilometer course with 105 meters of rolling hills that will give competitors no respite. This new course is part of Zwift’s Scotland map, which was designed for the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships. These roads, strongly reminiscent of a roller coaster’s curves, will help tighten the ranks.

Among the 100 riders who will start, only the first 30 to cross the finish line will qualify for the second race. After a short break, these 30 qualifiers will start The Climb, a scratch hill climb race organized on the city course and on the Sgurr, also in Scotland. This 8.6-kilometer course with 161 meters of challenging elevation gain per lap will challenge riders to repeatedly climb the most difficult hill in the new Scottish world. Only the first ten will qualify for the third stage. The third and final race of the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, The Podium, will take place on the Glasgow Crit circuit, a 3-kilometer loop with 33 meters of climbing. For the first time in a cycling esports world championship, this final race will be in an elimination format. Popular in track cycling, the elimination race shifts the action from the front of the peloton to the back; on each lap, the last rider to cross the finish line will be eliminated from the race. When the peloton has been reduced from 10 to 3 riders, the remaining cyclists will compete for victory and podium places.

Start List

200 of the world’s best cycling esports competitors will start two multi-format races. The complete start lists for both events are available here.

5 riders will represent France at the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, three women and two men.

• Sébastien Havot, freshly crowned French Esports Cycling Champion, the rider from the Hexagone esports cycling team (ranked 1st in the Zwift Racing League) has proven many times that the roads of Zwift hold no secrets for him.
• Geoffrey Millour, French track champion in 2010 and also a member of the Hexagone team, the Breton had hung up his bike in 2017 after a promising start to his career. It is Zwift that brings him back to competition this year; his track cycling background could be a major asset against the new competition formats.
• Sandrine Etienne won the French Esports Cycling Champion title and the French Cup this year. Although new to virtual cycling, this former pro trail runner knows how to set her pace and demonstrate a clever mix of strategy and power.
• Sophie Giovane, second in the French Cup and the World Championships, this mountain biking enthusiast knows Zwift perfectly and will be able to use her experience to stand out.
• Laurence Mottas completed the podium of the French esports cycling cup on January 20 after 5 crucial stages.

How to follow the event

The 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships will be broadcast live on Zwift’s YouTube channel, as well as on GCN’s YouTube channel. Results will be available on Zwift.com after the race.

10 cyclists to follow…

MEN

• Lionel Vujasin (BEL) – An experienced multidisciplinary rider, Lionel races with the powerful Canyon Esports e-racing team. He has competed in many high-level cycling esports competitions, including a victory at the last edition of the Zwift Grand Prix, during which he deployed an Anvil at exactly the right moment to escape the peloton.
• Victor Campenaerts (BEL) – He is one of the few professional road cyclists to start the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships. There is no doubt that Victor’s legs have significant punch; the 2016 Belgian national road champion has raced multiple Grand Tours. He also held the world hour record. Even if his power is undeniable, he is not used to riding on Zwift like some of his competitors, which could keep him from a victory on the virtual roads of Scotland.
• James Barnes (NZ) – A member of NeXT eSports powered by Enshored, James is a fierce competitor who won an Alpe du Zwift hill climb race in 2022 by maintaining 397 watts for 36 minutes. A Kiwi rider to watch closely…
• Freddy Ovett (AUS) – Freddy propelled himself to the forefront of the Zwift scene during the virtual Tour de France in 2020 and has consistently ranked high in all Zwift races he has participated in since, including finishing second in the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in 2022. He is one of the best sprinters in esports races but is also capable of climbing with the lead group in any race.
• Jason Osborne (DE) – One of the race favorites, Osborne won the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in 2020 and was on the podium in 2022. These results earned him a professional contract with Deceuninck-Quick-Step in 2021. The German is now with Alpecin-Deceuninck and came to cycling after a career in rowing. A discipline in which he was world champion in 2018 and Olympic silver medalist at the 2021 Games.

WOMEN

• Loes Adegeest (NED) – The reigning champion will approach the World Championships as a favorite and will try to repeat her feat of 2022. After several years of racing for continental teams in Europe, Loes moved to the world circuit during the 2023 season with FDJ Suez Futuroscope, and will be keen to start her season with a victory at the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships.
• Mary Wilkinson (GB) – Mary climbed the ranks by participating in community-organized Zwift races and has mastered the unique tactics of cycling esports. Mary was a finalist in the 2018 Zwift Academy. The former runner then won the British Cycling National Masters Road Race Championships in her age category and raced at a high level on Zwift, including the KISS Super League as a member of the Zwift Academy Dream Team.
• Zoe Langham (GB) – Zoe finished third in the 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, narrowly missing victory, and will enter this year’s race with a strong intention to do better. She is a talented road racer with the British Pro-Noctis women’s cycling team. She competes on Zwift with the Wahoo-Le Col team. Zoe recently graduated from medical school and is completing her training.
• Eva van Agt (NED) – The Dutch cyclist climbed the ranks through continental teams, including Le Col-Wahoo, and rides for Jumbo Visma in 2023. Her rapid progression makes her a formidable opponent for February 18.
• Kristen Kulchinsky (USA) – Kristen is a Zwift specialist with the legendary American Twenty24 team. She is the highest-ranked woman on Zwift Power and finished ninth in the 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, making her a significant threat for the podium in a competition that will strongly favor riders accustomed to the unique tactics of Zwift races. When not competing in Zwift races, Kulchinsky creates jewelry in her studio.

Source: Press Release

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