Professional roller riding: UCI Cycling E-Sports World Championships in Abu Dhabi
Jan Timmermann
· 19.11.2024
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Mountain bikers associate roller cycling more with solo training in the small adjoining room than with professional sport on the big stage. What looks like a computer game at first glance is actually a top sporting event with highly official UCI status: the World Championships in e-cycling. Wearing their country's national jerseys, the best indoor cyclists on the planet compete on the spot in a darkened room. Large LED screens bathe their sweaty faces in bright colours. Avatars with glowing tyres ride through a virtual replica of the Alps. Watt values, speeds, numbers everywhere. At the edge of the live stream: Arab men in white kandora robes.
For the uninitiated, the scene seems strange. Professional roller riding in the United Arab Emirates is light years away from the lives of most mountain bikers. One person who seems to fit right in among all the sponsor logos is Jason Osborne. The 30-year-old former professional rower from Mönchengladbach is starting in the role of favourite. However, in the first of the three races, called "The Sprint", he is not yet able to fulfil this role. An old hip injury is causing problems and initial self-doubt threatens to bury his medal ambitions early on. Osborne's time for the 300 metre sprint is only honoured with 18th place. Here, at the interface between high-performance sport and gamification, a points system determines who takes home the world championship title.
The second course was christened "The Strategy". On the nine-kilometre course, points are awarded at the foot and summit of a climb. Osborne rolls up the field from behind, increases the race pace significantly halfway through the course and dominates the uphill classification. The surrounding area of Abu Dhabi is actually largely dominated by flat sandy desert. However, it is of course no coincidence that the first live staging of a world championship final in this marginal sport is taking place here of all places. The island off the mainland in the Persian Gulf is home to influential sponsors who want to put e-cycling athletes on a par with outdoor racers.
Title sponsor My Whoosh has its company headquarters on site and is driving professionalisation forward with a strong hand. The athletes are courted at the supporting events. Many of them have been competing against each other in races for years, but have never met in the real world. With an outside temperature of 35 degrees, not only the organisers but also the highly efficient air conditioning system earn the praise of the e-athletes.
The Emirates want to promote e-cycling. There is hardly any room for improvement in terms of professionalism - Jason Osborne, UCI World Champion E-Cycling
"All Out" - the third and final competition stage could not have been more aptly titled. The circuit with four virtual kilometres must be completed a total of four times. There are points to be scored each time you cross the finish line. A first lap victory for the Finn Kasper Borremans makes the race exciting. Osborne then takes command and is able to pull away from his rivals. Despite the fans, the sweat was pouring. Even though the 40-second climbs demanded everything from the German squad rider, his pursuers were unable to catch him on the third and fourth laps. Gold for Jason Osborne: Germany is world champion in e-cycling!
What is e-cycling?
Virtual bike races are not an entirely new phenomenon. Nevertheless, many mountain bikers have never heard of the e-cycling phenomenon. You will look in vain for a drive motor here. In this racing sport, the human drives the machine and not the other way round. The midwives of the e-cycling trend are coronavirus and technical progress. In times of pandemic-related travel restrictions, cyclists switched to virtual worlds and contested international professional competitions on a grand scale. The performance achieved is transmitted via an app to a digital avatar that moves through a simulated landscape. Fair racing conditions are only possible thanks to the ever-decreasing measurement inaccuracies of the latest generation of devices and complex tests. Standardised Elite Justo 2 direct drive trainers (1099 euros) were used at this year's World Championships. The live final meant that temperature fluctuations relevant to the measurements could be ruled out. The riders were also weighed on site.
At elite level, the smallest differences are crucial. This is why dual controlling with additional power meters, laboratory tests and video evidence to prove the current body weight are now common practice. Over five minutes, e-cycling pros pedal at around seven watts per kilo of body weight. At amateur level, the choice of roller trainer and false information can also lead to a kind of doping without physical consequences. The training effect and fun factor should therefore take centre stage. E-cycling officially belongs to the category of e-sports due to its virtual organisation. The International Cycling Union (UCI) and the International Olympic Committee are pushing ahead with professionalisation. Professional athletes are already switching from an analogue to a digital career. Sponsorship contracts promise up to six-figure annual sums.
History of the E-Cycling World Championships: A fringe sport on the upswing
Bizarre, shrill, indoor cycling: when winter announces itself with cold and darkness, cyclists come up with crazy ideas and become couch potatoes. Daniel Steinhauser, for example, recently set a new world record. The German cycled 962 kilometres in 24 hours and still didn't move a single metre on his spinning bike. He only managed to break the old record six minutes before the time was up. A short time later, the World Championships in e-cycling took place for the fourth time. The development of the World Championships shows how dynamic this young sport really is.
2020: Professional sport has been paralysed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Athletes can take part in the first Cycling E-Sports World Championships from home. The 50 km long individual race takes place on Zwift. First title for Jason Osborne.
2022: After a long break and with a new date in February, the UCI is once again organising a World Championship on Zwift. For the first time, community members of the app platform can also qualify for the one-day final.
2023: The biggest change to the World Championship format is the switch from a one-day race to a series of elimination races. It remains with Zwift. E-cycling is also part of the IOC's Olympic e-sport series in Singapore.
2024: With the new organiser My Whoosh, the World Championship final will no longer be held from home, but on site in Abu Dhabi. The new scoring method is based on a points system. Gold goes to Osborne again.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
