New qualifying competitions for the 2022 UCI Esports World Championship on Zwift

The next UCI Cycling Esports World Championships will move from Zwifts Watopia to the New York Map. "This will be centred around Central Park and take riders and spectators 100 years into the future with elevated glass roads leading riders up into the iconic Manhattan skyline," the company said in a press release.

The racers will tackle the Knickerbocker route. Both the men's and women's elite will complete two full laps of the 22.5km route before arriving at the summit of the New York KOM, a 1.4km climb with an average virtual gradient of 6.1 per cent and ramps of up to 17 per cent. In total, the riders will cover 54.9 kilometres and 944 metres in altitude. The size of the field, the race time, the race distance and the prize money are the same for men and women.

The qualification for the World Cup is new: five continental qualifying tournaments for the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships 2022covering Oceania, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, are open to the best community esports competitors from around the world and will take place on 27 and 28 November 2021. The top five finishers in each race will earn a spot at the 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships and will compete for their respective national federation.

In addition to the qualification pathway open to community members, the UCI will also automatically invite 23 national federations. These places will be allocated based on two bases: a combination of the size of the cycling esports community and the depth of talent as measured by esports and UCI rankings. More detailed criteria will ensure that all five continents are represented for both men and women and that the maximum number of participants is equal for both genders. These criteria will be published in due course.

Once again this year, participants will take part in the competitions from their own home or training base. Zwift PowerUps will be available at both the Continental Qualifiers and the Elite Championships. The winners of both races will be awarded the UCI Cycling Esports Rainbow Jersey, which will of course be awarded virtually. The winners will also receive physical jerseys to wear in Esports competitions the following year.

Information on qualification is available here