UCI Cycling Esports World Championship 2022: World Championship titles for the Netherlands and Australia

The second UCI Cycling Esports World Championship in history

On Saturday, 26 February 2022, the second World Championship in virtual cycling took place. 100 women and 100 men worldwide were able to register for the Qualify for the World Championship race.

The World Cup was held at the Knickerbocker route was held in Zwifts New York. 54.9 kilometres, 944 metres in altitude and a final climb with ramps of up to 17 per cent awaited the starters. Various power-ups required a special race strategy and provided additional excitement. All details about the World Championships can be found here can be read here.

The women's race

The women's race was gruelling from the start, so that at the beginning of the last lap only a small group of women still had a chance of winning the world title. Among them was the Defending champion Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio from South Africa. They were surrounded by riders from the USA, Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark, among others. The team from the USA repeatedly tested the field with attacks. Katheryn Curi shone with a strong solo performancebut was caught before the final climb. Arriving at the New York QOM, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio took the lead. With an attack on the first ramp, the group was reduced to four riders. At the decisive moment, 200 metres before the finish, Loes Adegeest (NLD) used her spring power-up. The 25-year-old Dutchwoman thus took the world title. After the race she said:

I knew I had to save the spring for the last section if I wanted to win the sprint. I saw Ashleigh putting hers in further down and knew my chances were getting better and better!

The Women's World Championship podium:

1. Loes Adegeest, Netherlands
2. Cecilia Hansen, Sweden
3. Zoe Langham, Great Britain

The men's race

Hard and fast - that's how you could describe the start of the men's race. If you wanted to be at the front, you had to get to the front early. There were repeated attacks at the start of the race, but a breakaway group with Tomoaki Takasugi (Japan) and Rick Ottema (Netherlands) was caught again 26 kilometres before the finish. Around 15 kilometres before the finish, some of the larger nations fell behind, Australia reacted and moved to the front of the peloton. The leading group slowly disintegrated over the last three kilometres of the race. The The Austrian Rainer Kepplinger dared the first attackbut he was caught by the peloton. The Defending champion Jason Osborne (Germany) had an aero power-up up his sleeve and broke out of the field. Everything looked like a successful defence of the title. However, the two Australians Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix) and Freddy Ovett managed to pass him just a few metres before the finish.

The Men's World Championship podium:

1. Jay Vine, Australia
2. Freddy Ovett, Australia
3. Jason Osborne, Germany

A few days before the Esports World Cup, we had the chance to speak to Jason Osborne: Jason Osborne in an interview with TOUR