MyWhoosh and Favero have announced a new partnership today that will require certain racers participating in the indoor training platform's Sunday Race Club (SRC) to purchase and use a specific pair of Favero Assioma power meter pedals to verify their performance.
From the 4th of October, all SRC Category 1 riders, along with Category 2 riders who have earned more than $2,000 in prize money, will be required to purchase and use approved Favero Assioma PRO RS-2 or RL-2 pedals, which come in at $789, as their primary in-game power source to remain eligible for prize money.
Cyclingnews understands that all Category 1 riders win prize money; this may be individual or team winnings.
Large amounts of prize money are on offer in the MyWhoosh SRC; it's well documented that some riders are taking home over six figures per year in prize money by racing on the platform.
This move by MyWhoosh is aimed at standardising power meters 'to improve integrity in e-racing.' Riders will still be able to race if they don't have the Favero pedals, but they will no longer be eligible for prize money.
“This is an important next step in strengthening the standards behind professional-level cycling e-sports," explained Director of E-sports & Game Operations at MyWhoosh Matt Smithson said;
There's more to the hardware than just a set of power meter pedals, however. MyWhoosh and Favero have designed a 'MyWhoosh eSports Race Mode' which will go live between October and early November.
The MyWhoosh e-sports race mode
MyWhoosh says the new Favero connection will be tested during October under SRC race conditions.
The race mode will auto-verify a rider's power meter for SRC. It will be rolled out within a firmware update and an app update for users.
Up until this point, SRC competitors have been required to complete stringent power and hardware verification checks, including submitting a video to verify equipment setup to be eligible to compete.
MyWhoosh says a properly set-up Assioma Pro pedal system operating the new MyWhoosh race mode, will automatically be accepted for power source verification for the SRC, which should streamline the process for users.
This news means that racers' smart trainers will no longer be their primary power source for e-racing. The trainers will still be a controllable device for resistance and gradient simulation, but the Favero pedals will be the primary power source.
MyWhoosh has published an approved list of smart trainers in the past; it remains to be seen whether riders will still need to use a trainer from this list.
MyWhoosh says the Assioma Pro pedals will control rider avatars in-game, and the power from them will be logged in MyWhoosh's race reporting systems.
Race results will be determined from their power data, and the data from them will be used for post-race power verification.
The Assioma Pro pedals will be the mandatory in-game power source for affected riders from October 4th; testing and validation will run through October, and the MyWhoosh eSports Race Mode will officially launch in late October or early November.
What do SRC e-racers think?
Cyclingnews spoke to elite racer Zach Nehr, who regularly competes in the upper categories of the SRC, to see what an SRC competitor thought about the changes.
Nehr was all for anti-cheating protocols and stringent verification, but cited some inconsistencies across categories, and explained that riders in lower categories are also winning healthy amounts of prize money.
'That was big news to see'. Nehr said on the announcement.
'I think that when riders are earning hundreds or thousands of dollars in prize money, we need to have the absolute highest levels of verification and anti-cheating protocol. If this is what MyWhoosh believes is the solution at this point, then I support it.
'The bigger issue to me is that the new rule is only being applied to Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders, not cats 3-6. Those lower-cat riders are still earning thousands of dollars in prize money, which is a huge problem.
'In my opinion, the prize money should be completely redistributed and only go to Cat 1 to eliminate these barriers and sandbagging, and to motivate riders to try their hardest to reach the highest level. In any other sport, only the top professionals make the money, not low-level amateurs making thousands of dollars annually.'
