Even the name is ambiguous. Is it cycling, or is it an esport? The dichotomy denotes the division within the community and complicates the course to credibility, opening the sport to the critical question: "Why does cycling esports need the UCI at all?"
Conflicting viewpoints deepen the divide as cycling esports fights to find its identity. Is it a cycling discipline governed by the UCI or an esport not beholden to traditionalist preconceived notions of cycling? And if the UCI is going to be involved, how does it conceive of the future of cycling esports?
Is it cycling, or is it esports?
The sport took a decisive step down the traditional path in September 2019 when Zwift and the UCI agreed to terms to host the first UCI Cycling Esports World Championships. The partnership promised to create a new discipline and a sustainable future for cycling esports.
The three-plus-year relationship marked multiple milestones in the sport’s origin and evolution. Three UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the Virtual Tour de France – which brought gender parity to the Tour for the first time – and an Olympic Esports Series were among the many momentous moments. These events introduced cycling esports to worldwide audiences on Eurosport, SBS, JSports, NBC Sports Gold, and GCN+.
Questions about the UCI's value lingered despite what many considered sufficient progress – helping build a sport from scratch and showcasing it on an international stage. Beyond its initials stamped on the name of the sport’s lone sanctioned event, the governing body’s influence on cycling esports’ direction was nowhere to be found, and even those on the inside had to squint to bring it into focus.
To make matters worse, when the UCI announced in August 2023 that it had awarded the Cycling Esports World Championships to MyWhoosh, the UAE-based company with ties to serious investment – traced back to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the son of the founder of the UAE – for the next three years, their financial motives were immediately shrouded under a dubious cloud of scrutiny.
The tender came with a lofty seven-figure price tag, according to reports, and exclusive rights to create virtual versions of the following three real World Championship courses (just like with Zwift), which only sweetened the deal with MyWhoosh. Sources indicate that a group led by the ASO and the Saudi Cycling Federation submitted a competing bid, and with the presumed omnipresence of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), plenty of cash was potentially left on the tender table.
There are plenty of questions, rumors, and doubts to go with it, too.
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