While October may seem far away, in order to qualify for the 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship, you’d best get started now.
Held since 2020, the UCI Cycling Esports Championships are an annual racing event in which cyclists compete in a series of bike races on a virtual cycling platform. While the first three events were held on Zwift, the pioneers in virtual cycling, the UCI has granted MyWhoosh the rights to organize the Esports World Championships for the coming three years, starting this fall. It’ll be the first virtual championship with a live final as well as a public qualification process. That’s right: you do not have to be a pro cyclist or indoor specialist for a chance to vie for the coveted rainbow jersey avatar and be crowned world champion.
Two Ways to Qualify
There are two ways to qualify: one, to be selected by your nation’s cycling federation, or two, via the public qualifiers.
The UCI used 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 how many riders each federation gets at the semi-finals for the Championships, with a maximum of 10 riders per team. The national federations get to assign 80% of the semi-final starting spots using their discretion and/or a selection process of their own. These need to be finalised by August 1.
The remaining 20% will be selected through the public qualification process. The details of which were revealed by the UCI and MyWhoosh today.
The public qualifiers start on August 3, and while they are indeed open to the public, one must sign up for a MyWhoosh account and undergo its verification process beforehand. This process includes a variety of intervals and equipment checks, so riders wanting to compete should ensure that they complete this process before August 3.
The qualifiers will be two-stage events held on three different dates to accommodate riders from various time zones. Riders can try their chances at all three occasions, but once qualified they cannot enter any more qualifiers. The top riders from these qualifiers will secure a spot in the semi-finals for their respective national federation.
The semi-finals will take place on September 6 and will be a two-stage event. Stage One will feature a 9-kilometre circuit, utilising a points system to select the top 80 riders who will advance. Stage Two will be four laps of a 4-kilometre circuit, identifying the top 20 male and female competitors who will progress to the final.
Two additional wild card entries per gender will be added to the list of finalists. These entries are given out at MyWhoosh’s discretion, and opens the door to high-profile entries like MyWhoosh ambassadors Peter Sagan and Tadej Pogacar.
The 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship
The 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships will be the first time all the finalists will compete in person in a live event, to be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
As we’ve seen in previous editions, the final will again be a multi-race event, but this time, it’s points-based. The final will be an action-packed flurry of 15 to 20-minute races separated by just 10 minutes of recovery. Riders will compete on their own bikes hooked up to Elite’s Justo trainers, the official technical partner of UAE Team Emirates.
For race one, titled The Sprint, riders will be on a 1.7-kilometre flat circuit. Racers will have 15 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 second race is titled The Strategy and takes place on a 9-kilometre circuit consisting of 6.5 kilometres of rolling hills followed by a four-minute climb, a fast descent, and a one-kilometre 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 aptly-named third and final race. Here, the 4-kilometre 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.
The rider with the most points at the end of the series wins the rainbow bands.
