Virtual bicycle racing may revitalize an old sport
Could virtual bicycle racing revitalize an old sport?
Fifty-two cyclists assembled at the starting line for a 40-kilometer road race under a perfect blue sky. In the distance, beyond an Italian village loomed the active volcano they would climb in the brutal mountain-top finish.
Forty-four of the competitors were professional racers on teams like Cofidis and Hagens Berman Axeon, certified by the Union Cycliste Internationale, cycling’s 118-year-old governing body.
The remaining eight racers were just really good at “Zwift” the multiplayer cycling video game hosting this virtual race.
In garages, gyms and rumpus rooms around the world, the racers started pedaling furiously on carbon fiber road bikes bolted into stationary trainers. Team Wiggins Le Col set up in a highend bike shop in London, clad in skin-tight Lycra even though aerodynamics are of little import when pedaling in place.
On screens beyond their handlebars and in a web stream available around the world, the racers’ avatars launched off the line and formed a tight group — the classic peloton formation of road racing. What might be the world’s first e-sports competition featuring professional athletes was under way.
The starting pace was punishing, with the pros pumping out a steady 500 watts as they zipped by palm trees at a digitally approximated 60 kilometers per hour. The avatars surged forward to match the force behind each rider’s pedal stroke, which is transmitted to Zwift’s servers by the web-connected trainers.
Zwift sells itself to cyclists as a way to reduce the tedium of training indoors — a necessary evil when it’s too rainy, dark or dangerous to hit the tarmac. Instead of staring at a wall, users stare at a screen, sharing the animated course with online buddies in dozens of daily events, ranging from friendly group rides to full-gas competitions. The Long Beach, Calif., company says it has persuaded hundreds of thousands of cyclists to sign up for $14.99 monthly subscriptions. Flush with a recent $125-million round of venture capital cash, Zwift is now looking to expand into the burgeoning world of e-sports.
The company frames it as a savvy evolution of its business; but for a sport steeped in history that has struggled to attract new fans and racers, online racing could change the game.
“We should be able to take the best cyclists in the world and put them head to head in an arena and actually sell tickets,” said Eric Min, Zwift’s chief executive and co-founder.
Watching cycling has remained stubbornly free from the sport’s inception — anyone can line up along the Tour de France route and cheer as the maillot jaune whizzes by. And for the moment, anyone can watch a stream of a Zwift race for free.
“In terms of how we can commercialize a sport and make it more sustainable, I think what we have to offer is super interesting,” said Min, an avid indoor cyclist who rides outdoors only for “special experiences.”
Players have been racing on Zwift since it launched in beta in 2014, with only a simple threemile circuit around a tropical island. With no official events, users would coordinate on forums to meet up at the circuit’s starting flag at a certain time to compete.
Soon, though, a whole ecosystem emerged. An independent site, Zwift Power, started pulling data from the game and creating rankings. Leagues like KISS, with which Zwift partnered to launch its first-ever pro series this week, coordinated stage races. Users started logging sections of Zwift courses on Strava, the fitness app that lets users track their times on sections of road.
Players even created their own regulatory body, the Zwift Anti-Doping Agency, to keep the virtual racers honest. (While it’s impossible to rule out performance-enhancing drug use, doping in the Zwift context typically refers to players underreporting their weight in the game, which can increase speed on climbs.)
The eight non-professional players in Wednesday’s match are among the champions of this ad hoc system.
Pro riders have turned to the platform as well. Former Australian pro Mathew Hayman famously used Zwift to keep fit after breaking his arm, and returned to win the storied ParisRoubaix classic in his first race back. But few have raced under the colors of their official team, and never have digital races been part of the pro calendar.
Axel Merckx, the directeur sportif (bike-speak for coach) of Hagens Berman Axeo, a retired pro and son of cycling legend Eddie Merckx, said that Zwift’s proposition for a pro league was immediately appealing.
“It’s an old-fashioned sport. In general, there’s not a lot of outside-of-the-box ideas out there,” Merckx said. “When you’re on there and see how many people are actually riding their bikes, it seems like a good place to promote our sponsors and partners and see what kind of response we get.”
Min sees the 10-week professional series, which includes men’s and women’s races, as a first step into a broader future of official Zwift competition.
“To professional teams, we’re not just a game, we’re a real legitimate platform,” Min said. “I think a professional league is inevitable, and I think the Olympics should embrace this kind of sport if they want to innovate and be inclusive and widen the net of athlete participation.”
The game has offered a new path to glory for those who take it seriously. Adam Zimmerman, 35, was a serious road racer but never a top contender at the highest echelons of the sport. The Denver-based cycling coach has transformed himself into the defending U.S. national champion on Zwift, which he views as a sport unto itself.
“I consider it a video game that you just happen to be riding a bicycle on,” Zimmerman said.
Cycling is a tactical team sport, where squads jostle for position, using the windbreak of their massed opponents to draft and save energy until the final stretch. Each member of a team has a specific role to play in delivering the payload — a star sprinter or top climber — to the finish line. One racer will brave the windy front of the pack to protect teammates, another will carry extra water for the rest, and another will use sharp elbows to create an opening for the winning attack.
The only input is pure quadpopping power, calculated as watts per self-reported kilogram of body weight.