Interview e-cycling sport: What does a sports director do for digital cycling?
Jan Timmermann
· 25.11.2024
Never heard of e-cycling? We're not talking about a discipline that takes place on e-bikes - on the contrary! In top-level roller cycling, it's not the machine that drives the rider, but the other way round. Since the coronavirus pandemic at the latest, the progressive professionalisation of this e-sports discipline has been unstoppable. While athletes sweat on a roller trainer, they drive their avatar forward within an app. Hundreds of races take place in virtual worlds every day. The hottest of them all: The official world championship in e-cycling. As befits professional sport, Germany has its own national team in this up-and-coming sport. As Sporting Director of Digital Cycling at the German Cycling Federation, Sebastian Wolf is responsible for the development of competitive cycling. He knows why roller cycling is so popular and why mountain bikers can become successful e-athletes.
E-cycling: an e-sports discipline on the way to Olympic status
BIKE: What does an official sports director for digital cycling do?
SEBASTIAN WOLF: The tasks are very similar to those in road cycling. There is only one competition a year in e-cycling, the World Championships, which is held with the national team, and I also look after Beastmode p/b ROSE, a German elite team that takes part in other competitions. I then nominate riders for the World Championships in consultation with a small team at the BDR. In the previous competitions on Zwift, I sat in the virtual team car, so to speak, watching the race and giving tactical tips. In the virtual world, there are also slipstreams and hills and therefore also room for team tactics to a certain extent. I can see the route in real time and can, for example, give the best moment for an attack. Compared to analogue cycling, the riding technique component is of course missing. In the app, for example, it is not so important in which position you ride into a narrow section, but rather at what speed, as it is easier to ride through the field. This year, the World Championship was held on the My Whoosh platform on site in Abu Dhabi. That's why the final took place without my company.
How did the 2024 E-cycling World Championships in Abu Dhabi go from your perspective?
Of course, the previous, purely digital format also had its advantages. Without travelling, everyone could take part from home with their own equipment. However, it was certainly good for the sport as a whole that there was a live event this year. Roller trainers were originally developed by the manufacturers as training equipment and not with the intention of competitive sport. For example, temperature fluctuations can result in certain deviations. In elite sport, such small things make a big difference. Similar to doping, a five per cent advantage can make the difference between gold or fifth place. Thanks to standardised and officially approved roller trainers, these questions did not arise at the live event - or to put it another way: at least deliberate manipulation is ruled out. We had a total of 5 athletes at the start and were able to build on the successes of previous years. We are naturally very happy with Jason Osborne's German world championship title and Merle Brunée's sixth place.
In which direction will e-cycling develop as a sport in the future?
E-cycling is a very young, dynamic sport with challenges and opportunities. Similar to mountain biking 25 years ago, the structures are not yet fully defined. There is definitely a prospect of Olympic e-sports games. This would mean that there would also be Olympic medals to be won - which would certainly be good for public perception. Most recently, the Olympic Esport Games were awarded to Saudi Arabia for the coming years. Like all e-sports, e-cycling is also played on commercial platforms. Companies such as Zwift or My Whoosh will therefore also play a role in determining where the journey takes us. Either way, the importance of the sport is growing very quickly. Jason Osborne, for example, has announced his departure from the World Tour to become a full-time e-sports professional. Around ten to 20 athletes worldwide are already able to finance themselves solely through W-Cycling. Despite this, there is still a huge discrepancy between the athletes' performance and the support they receive. The teams work without their own coaches, physiotherapists or nutritionists and usually only have one employee.
Mountain bikers as e-athletes
BIKE: When many bikers think of e-sports, they probably think of computer games. How does that fit in with cycling?
SEBASTIAN WOLF: There is also talk of the four pillars of e-sports. One pillar, which the International Olympic Committee does not want to tackle, is everything that falls into the category of so-called "shooting games". The best-known area of e-sports is games such as League of Legends. Then there are sports simulations. E-cycling then belongs to the last pillar, which is closest to classic Olympic sport - in other words, the area in which real physical sport has to be practised, which then arrives on the screen.
It's obvious that many of the best e-cycling athletes come from a road cycling background. Are there also athletes with a mountain bike background?
Absolutely. There are riders from the mountain bike marathon sector in the top German teams, for example. Most athletes who do a lot of volume training eventually find their way to roller training in order to stay fit in winter and minimise the risk of injury. Speed skaters and rowers also find their way to e-cycling. Bike control is not necessarily required. What is needed, however, is a type of rider who can deliver a strong performance in short efforts and especially in races of up to 60 minutes. We are talking about a five-minute value of around seven watts per kilo of body weight. You need a high VO2max value and a good lactate metabolism in this range. Unlike road cycling, there is less of a need for a foundation and efficiency to be able to attack after five hours of exertion.
How close is the relationship between e-cycling and mountain biking?
In terms of structure, mountain biking is probably even closer to e-cycling than road cycling. MTB races in particular are often about short efforts. In the terrain, athletes don't ride around for hours before they really get going. It's about short attacks, recovery and repeatability. Fast starts and even sprints are also common in both disciplines E-cycling can promote exactly that.
Virtual races as training motivation
BIKE: Is e-cycling also something for hobby cyclists?
SEBASTIAN WOLF: Roller training itself has already become established. The new technical possibilities can make winter training easier. Everyone is sure to find something that appeals to them in the wide range of free or paid-for software - be it training and intervals, simulating outdoor riding or virtual worlds. As a cycling fan myself, I really enjoy racing. The competitions really feel like a bike race. It's certainly not for every day, but it's a great addition to a relaxed volume. A distinction must be made between motivational training and professional races. In the latter, great effort is made to rule out manipulation. Athletes have to document their weight in videos and prove that they can perform similarly outdoors as they do in the app. In some cases, dual controlling takes place via smart trainers and power meters. There are also laboratory tests and so on. Unfortunately, amateur riders have to live with the fact that athletes who weigh 80 kilos but only claim to weigh 60 kilos also ride around in the virtual world because the commercial platforms can't or don't want to monitor everyone. Doping without health risks, so to speak. However, this can also happen unintentionally, for example if someone buys a bad roller trainer or unknowingly calibrates it incorrectly.
Can you make any recommendations for non-professionals?
At amateur level, roller training can primarily serve as a training programme. The focus should be on having fun. It can be much more motivating to include an e-cycling race than simply riding VO2max intervals. A big advantage is the low barrier to entry. As a rule, you don't have to pay an entry fee for the races and drive somewhere first. Nobody sees if a rider is left behind after three kilometres. There is less room for shame. E-cycling can therefore also be interesting for cyclists who have no racing ambitions in the analogue world. It's best to look for like-minded people in the communities. That way, you won't be alone when training and racing. In winter, the next sporting goal is usually a long way off. The virtual events can provide additional training motivation.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
