The UCI will award the virtual rainbow stripes in the first-ever live event final using a points-based inclusive format on MyWhoosh.
Author’s Note: The information found in this report is from direct one-on-one interviews with UCI and MyWhoosh representatives during a recent press tour, culminating in a press conference on January 25, 2024, at the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club, AlHudayriyat Island, UAE.
As first reported in Cycling Weekly!
When the UCI awards the virtual rainbow jersey at the 2024 Cycling Esports World Championship on MyWhoosh at an in-person live final on October 26 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, it will mark the first time the event is on a platform other than Zwift.
Zwift is credited with the origins of cycling esports and has hosted three UCI Cycling Esports World Championship events, the groundbreaking Virtual Tour de France that achieved gender parity, and an Olympic Esports Series. They also introduced cycling esports to a global audience through Eurosport, SBS, JSports, NBC Sports Gold, and GCN+ broadcasts. Past achievements weren’t enough for the UCI.
“We were very much looking for a platform focused on competition,” said the UCI’s Head of Innovation and Esports, Michael Rogers, on the decision to move the World Championship from Zwift during a press conference at the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club on January 25. “What MyWhoosh is planning over the long term excited us very much.”
In August 2023, the UCI announced that MyWhoosh would be the exclusive platform and organizer of the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships for the next three years (2024-2026).
The platform is known for hosting big-money events, like the weekly Sunday Race Club series, with a monthly prize purse of over $284,000 spread across four categories, two genders, and team and individual classifications. The $1 Million MyWhoosh Championship series in April 2023 boasted the largest payout in cycling esports’ history, lighting the path to professional cycling esports.
MyWhoosh is an Abu Dhabi-based Avrioc Technologies product and receives significant support and funding from the UAE government. Founded by CEO Akhtar Saeed Hashmi in 2019, MyWhoosh prioritized high-level esports racing, embraced the sport’s evolution as a legitimate distinct cycling discipline, and voiced a commitment to accessibility to the free-to-use platform.
“With the privilege of hosting the live final in Abu Dhabi, we are dedicated to changing the cycling esports landscape,” says MyWhoosh CEO Akhtar Saeed Hashmi.
“In a significant move, we are expanding the semi-finals to accommodate over 150 riders, reflecting our broader strategy to foster global growth and inclusivity in cycling esports. The qualification pathways, blending National Federation selections and MyWhoosh’s public qualification process, ensure transparency and fairness, opening doors for athletes worldwide.”
Qualification Pathways
The UCI will use a proprietary algorithm based on the international ranking system and the final athlete standings of the 2022 and 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships to determine the team athlete allotment, with a maximum of 10 riders per team. The National Federations will assign 80% of the semi-final starting spots using their selection criteria.
To provide opportunities for athletes from emerging countries and those unable to follow traditional pathways in regions without a strong cycling culture, the remaining 20% of semi-finalists will qualify through MyWhoosh’s public qualification process, with dates to align with National Federation team selection.
The expanded field will now include 150 men and 150 women in the semi-finals, marking a significant increase and aligning with the UCI and MyWhoosh’s broader goal of promoting growth and inclusivity in cycling esports on a global scale.
The Two Stage Semi-Finals
The Semi-Finals will follow a two-stage virtual format scheduled for September (exact date to be determined). Stage One will feature a 9-kilometer circuit, utilizing a points system to select the top 80 riders who will advance. Stage Two will be four laps of a 4-kilometer circuit, identifying the top 20 male and female competitors who will progress to the final.
Two wild card entries per gender will automatically qualify, opening the door for high-profile entries like two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates.
It will be the first time all Cycling Esports World Championship finalists will compete in person in a live event using a points-based race format.
“When we have the best athletes in the world in a room competing against each other,” Rogers explains, “it will bring excitement and publicity to the sport.”
In addition to the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the UAE will also host the 2024 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, the 2028 UCI Road World Championships, the 2028 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, and the 2029 UCI Track World Championships. MyWhoosh is also the UCI’s main virtual cycling partner for the next three road World Championships, giving the platform exclusive rights to create virtual versions of the courses.
Using their industry-leading graphics, MyWhoosh’s team of 300 designers and engineers created a bespoke virtual world for the event using their industry-leading graphics. The virtual race routes feature several of Abu Dhabi’s cycling venues, like the Yas Marina F1 circuit, where the public can ride free on the track on lender bikes, and cycling infrastructure investments, like the Velodrome, due to be completed in 2025.
“I see a future where more strategy comes into play in the competition,” says the UCI’s Rogers. “That’s what we want to achieve with the format for the upcoming Esports World Championship. If you can outsmart the strongest by being more strategic, that creates an interesting race perspective.”
The Three-Race Final
Burdened by the need to exceed expectations and with all eyes of the collective cycling esports world on him, MyWhoosh’s Race Control and Events Manager Matt Smithson envisioned a transformative event by first asking his team one question.
In an interview for the Virtual Velo Podcast, Smithson recounted the inspirational inquiry. “How can we create a stand-alone event that isn’t outdoor racing brought indoors that provides the optimal opportunity for any rider type to succeed by testing the limits of all aspects of an athlete’s physiological capabilities?” he asked.
The answer is a three-race points-based final consisting of an action-packed flurry of fifteen to twenty-minute races separated by ten minutes of recovery. Riders will compete on their own bikes hooked up to Elite Justo trainers, the official technical partner of UAE Team Emirates.
Riders will be on a 1.7-kilometer flat circuit in race one, called The Sprint. The MyWhoosh team took a page from the Formula One playbook, giving racers fifteen minutes to set their fastest time through a 300-meter, timed segment. A live leaderboard will track the fastest times as the crowd looks on, and riders will earn points based on their best segment time.
The 9-kilometer circuit for race two aptly termed The Strategy, consists of 6.5 kilometers of rolling hills, followed by a 4-minute climb, a fast descent, and a 1-kilometer flat run-in to the finish line. Points are on offer at the base and top of the climb, and the finish line will award double points.
All Out is the name of the third and final race, and the racers will have no other choice if they want any chance of putting their avatar’s arms through the sleeves of the virtual rainbow jersey. The 4-kilometer circuit concludes with a 50-second full-gas climb to the start/finish line. Riders will find an intermediate sprint point at the crest of each climb during the 4-lap affair.
By offering double points at the end of lap 4, Smithson and the MyWhoosh team seek to revolutionize cycling esports and realize their innovative vision for transforming the sport when it comes down to a thrilling final push to the line to crown a new champion using a new format on a new platform.
When the lights dim in the live event arena, the UCI’s Rogers will define success for the groundbreaking partnership with MyWhoosh and the 2024 Cycling Esports World Champions simply as “An event that we will remember.”
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
