The Men’s and Women’s rainbow jersey winners weren’t decided until the final climb of the three-stage live final on MyWhoosh in Abu Dhabi.
As originally reported on Cycling Weekly.
Jason Osborne of Germany and Mary Kate McCarthy of New Zealand won the 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship in front of a worldwide audience that descended on Abu Dhabi for the first-ever live event final on MyWhoosh.
Osborne, the former Olympic Rowing medalist and inaugural 2020 Cycling Esports World Championship winner, has never finished off the podium. However, to repeat, he would have to overcome a slow start in the first race of the three-stage points format, “The Sprint.”
Osborne made his decisive move in the second race, powering away from the field in “The Strategist,” and punctuated his second world championships with a solo attack in the final “All-Out” stage.
Osborne’s aggressive signature style secured victory, scoring 177 points, while Belgium’s Vujasin finished closely behind with 174 points. 18-year-old Fin Kasper Borremans claimed the bronze medal with 164 points, and 2023 world champion Bjorn Andreassen from Denmark took fourth place with 154 points. The USA’s Hayden Pucker rounded out the top five with 145 points.
Osborne expressed happiness after recently stepping away from WorldTour team Alpecin Deceuninck to focus on esports. Winning a second Rainbow Jersey affirmed his decision, as he stated after the win, “It’s time to move on to what I enjoy most, and that is ecycling, and today I made the most of my decision.”
McCarthy made an early statement in “The Sprint,” securing maximum points with a perfectly timed effort. However, the hard-fought victory over the tightly packed elite women’s field remained uncertain until the final sprint to the line of the “All Out,” winning with 180 points.
Brazil’s Gabriela Guerra overcame a sub-par Sprint performance to challenge until the final meters, ultimately falling short in her attempt to win the world title by just 4 points.
Switzerland’s Kathrin Fuhrer finished third with 165 points after a courageous ride. Great Britain’s Maria Holdcroft and Lou Bates claimed fourth and fifth each with 156 points, missing out on the medals despite all being in contention in the waning nail biting moments.
The New Zealander fended off performance authenticity questions after an annulment in a recent elite esports race, saying, “I had a point to prove this week.” Making a statement while riding a UCI standardized smart trainer in a live setting dispelled doubts that plague the developing sport.
The three-stage points format created a compelling competition that had the arena crowd on their feet cheering while vicariously experiencing the visceral suffering of the beautiful athletic brutality of this unique cycling discipline.
In the first stage, racers had fifteen minutes to post their fastest time through a 300-meter segment of the 1.7-kilometer circuit. The women’s race was strikingly straightforward. The riders rolled from the pen at a pedestrian pace and used the group’s draft benefit to post the race’s fastest times in the lap one segment.
McCarthy claimed maximum points (20), followed by Bates (19) and Fuhrer (18). Holdcroft finished in fifth to claim 16 points, and Guerra had serious ground to cover, taking only seven points with a disappointing 14th-best sprint.
The men’s race was a tactical affair that the three-man USA squad perfectly executed. They stayed behind as the group exited the start, creating a virtual track stand to ensue and leaving the field wondering what to do. It was too late to react when the American sprint train rolled through.
The USA’s Neal Fryett took the top sprint points, followed by teammates Hayden Pucker and Zach Nehr. Borremans claimed 15 points in sixth, Vujasin took 13 points, finishing eighth, and Andreassen finished in 12th to take nine points.
Stage two included a 9-kilometer circuit featuring a roughly 4-minute climb at 2.1 kilometers, followed by a 1-kilometer flat stretch to the finish line. Points were available at the base and top of the climb, with double points awarded at the finish.
After a surprisingly steady start, Lou Bates struck out to secure maximum points at the first sprint point at the base of the 2.1 km climb. McCarthy and Guerra, taking a more reserved approach, surged past Bates and distanced themselves at the summit. Guerra took maximum points, followed by McCarthy, creating a gap of nearly 20 seconds.
As they approached the finish, the chase group, including Bates, Holdcroft, and Fuhrer, lost significant time to the leaders. With no risk of being caught, Guerra and McCarthy engaged in a cat-and-mouse game during the final kilometer. Guerra made her move with 500 meters to go, but McCarthy couldn’t respond, finishing second, while Holdcroft claimed third.
After two stages, the Women’s standings were as follows:
- Guerra: 74 points
- McCarthy: 69 points
- Brunee: 63 points
- Bates: 63 points
- Holdcroft: 59 points
- Fuhrer: 54 points
The cream rose to the top on the lower slopes of the climb in the Men’s second stage as Osborne powered away from the group, reaching the Climb Checkpoint with seconds to spare. He extended his lead on the descent while a two-man chase, including Vujasin and Andreassen, pursued. A third group of Pucker and Harris (Australia) trailed a few seconds behind.
Osborne soloed to the finish, with Vujasin besting Andreassen for second place and Pucker securing the points from Harris in a strong sprint performance. Borremans made up ground to finish seventh.
Overall Standings after the Men’s Stage 2 were:
- Vujasin: 86 points
- Osborne: 80 points
- Pucker: 72 points
- Harris: 69 points
- Borremans: 69 points
- Mehl (Norway): 66 points
- Andreassen: 65 points
The sharp 12-percent 50-second climb to the start/finish line was the pivotal point in the third and final four-lap hilly criterium-style race for the Women’s and Men’s fields. Climb Segment points were offered for the first three laps and double points at the finish.
Bates again applied pressure early and attacked the first climb to claim the maximum 20 points in the sprint.
On the second lap, Switzerland’s Kathrin Fuhrer made her decisive move to take the hilltop sprint, while contenders Guerra and McCarthy steadily amassed points.
Guerra took the sprint on lap three, and McCarthy rolled over in third, separating them by only two points and setting the stage for an epic finish in which any of the racers in the top five had a chance to win.
In a dramatic last-second finish featuring a two-up battle to the line, McCarthy agonizingly distanced herself to cross the line first, pouring her body over the bars of her bike in exhaustion, with Guerra finishing second and Fuhrer taking the bronze.
In the Men’s final stage, Kasper Borremans attacked the first-lap climb to earn maximum points and begin his podium campaign. Osborne trailed Vujasin by eight points as their group, which included Andreassen, went through the start/finish of lap one.
Osborne took firm control of the race in the second lap, extending his ten-second gap at the base of the climb to claim the points at the summit and never looked back. Vujasin finished fourth in the sprint to secure 17 points and maintain a five-point lead.
In lap three, Osborne steadily and methodically extended his lead. Vujasin finished fifth and narrowed the gap to just one point. But in the end Osborne’s strength was too much.
There was no doubt as he triumphantly punched the air in victory, crossing the line solo with twenty seconds to celebrate his second World Title. Borremans overtook Vujasin to secure the podium placings.
The first-ever live event proved to be a proper World Championship for cycling esports, crowning two deserving champions in New Zealand’s Mary Kate McCarthy and Germany’s Jason Osborne, and marked a significant step forward in the evolution of the discipline.
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.
It’s been great to see the World Championship event develop from the early test events to an exciting final. I really like the 3 stage format, the courses are stunning and challenging whilst the production showed MyWhoosh in a hugely positive way. It was interesting to see the various tactics employed throughout especially in the sprint. Loved the decision by Josh Harris not to take the sprint on the first lap for example. That would have confused a few behind who thought he’d be the lead out man to draft behind. Lots more talking points and great finishes in both races, all 42 gave their all and can be hugely proud of their efforts. I just hope at some point a TV company like Discovery/Eurosport could get behind eSports Cycling and get more publicity.
Thank you for your comment and support, Paul! I also look forward to the day that cycling esports athletes receive the recognition they deserve.
Nice article! Interesting Kate got an ANL in the ZWS race, then does a similar level of performance on the standardised trainers in live setting on competition PCs that couldn’t be tampered with easily (or at all)
Does that mean her ANL is incorrect??
Great having live standardised racing, makes things even more exciting!
That’s an interesting question and thank you for you insight into Mary Kate’s situation. Cycling New’s Josh Croxton was here reporting from Abu Dhabi. You will find further background in the piece he wrote on the topic.
Thank you for the comment, Aaron. After witnessing first-hand the multi-layered approach the UCI and MyWhoosh have in place to ensure the integrity of the event, it would take a concerted conspiracy to tamper with the equipment. That’s not a question. However, the ANL is, and I hope we all receive clarity in the near future.
Without knowing the exact specifics of what got Kate disqualified by Zwift I do know a couple of things about her cycling here in NZ. That she has won multiple medals at NZ Elite road nationals including bronze early this year in the NZ nationals time trial as well as silver medal in the NZ nationals road race 2 or 3 years ago just losing the sprint to long time world pro rider Georgia Williams after the two had broken away together early in the gruelling race with plenty of climbing in it. Kate was terribly unlucky crashing and badly breaking her arm in her first stage race in Italy after just joining an Italian pro team a few years ago. So I would argue that her record would stack up possibly as the best but definitely one of the best in this UCI Esports World Championships. I’ll just make the point too that the woman who finished second in that Swift race and subsequently promoted to first is the wife of one of the Zwift commentators who finished behind Kate last weekend in Abu Dhabi on equal footing with everything as scrutinized as is humanly possible