Outside, it’s dark and freezing cold. Inside, Ruben Dhondt is sweating profusely, pushing 400 watts for 20 minutes on an indoor trainer. You may never have heard of him, but Dhondt is one of the best Esports cyclists in the world. The 25-year-old financial consultant is part of a growing group of indoor specialists capable of producing WorldTour-level power numbers.
What makes these riders remarkable is not just their performances in the virtual world, but their lives in the real world. Almost all of them work full-time jobs and squeeze elite-level training into half the volume ridden by pro road racers. These are the stories of people finding elite performance in the margins of everyday life.
