The 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships presented by MyWhoosh saw 6 intense races where Mary Kate McCarthy from New Zealand was crowned the Women’s Cycling Esports World Champion and Jason Osborne from Germany as the Men’s Cycling Esports World Champion, for the second time.
About the final
The final was hosted in person in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in front of a live audience that included former UCI Road Race world champion Peter Sagan and current world champion Tadej Pogačar. This marked the first time in the event’s history that this had happened.
20 women and 22 men made up the respective fields, which were selected after a series of qualifying events, in the previous months, which were all hosted virtually.
The final consisted of 3 stages, with points being allocated in each stage. Those with the most accumulated points over the three events would be crowned world champion.
Women’s event
The Women’s final was a close fought battle, which saw Mary Kate McCarthy from New Zealand secure victory with 180 points over Gabriela Guerra from Brazil with 176 and Kathrin Fuhrer from Switzerland on 165. Maria Holdcroft and Lou Bates, both from Great Britain, were tied on 156 points with Maria taking 4th position based on her higher finishing position in the 3rd stage.
How the race unfolded
Stage 1 was called “The Sprint” and 20 points were allocated to the rider would could produce the fastest sprint over a 300-meter defined segment. Riders had 15 minutes in which to produce their best 300-meter sprint.
It transpired that from the start, all riders went hard and put down their best times, which saw Mary Kate McCarthy set the fastest time and, with that picking up maximum 20 points. Lou Bates followed in second place with 19 and Kathrin Fuhrer in third took 18 points.
Following the initial sprint, there were flurries of activity as lower placed riders looked to improve their standings, but without making an impact. The majority of rider saved their energy and let the clock run down, content with their position.
Stage 2 was called “The Strategist.” It was an 8.9km course with a 127-meter climb. Points were allocated for a sprint just before the beginning of the climb, points at the top of the climb and double at the finish. This stage was design to test rider’s decision-making abilities. Do you try and pick up maximum points on the flat sprint just before the start of the climb, meaning you will be going into the climb fatigued, or do you hold something back for the climb?
Bates chose the first option, attacking before the sprint, claiming maximum points, but McCarthy and Guerra countered and powered away on the climb, with Guerra pipping McCarthy over the top of the climb to take the maximum 20 points. McCarthy and Guerra kept their momentum and raced for the maximum 40 points that were available for first position at the finish, which was taken by Guerra, with McCarthy in second.
At the end of Stage 2, Guerra was leading with 74 points, followed by McCarthy on 69 and Merle Brunne was in third on 63 points, slightly ahead of Bates with 63.
Stage 3, a 4-lap course with 20 points available at the end of each lap and 40 on the final, was appropriately called “All Out.”
The race ebbed and flowed with Bates looking strong, winning the first climb. But going into the final lap, McCarthy was leading by 2 points ahead of Guerra and 9 ahead of Fuhrer. This meant that the Cycling Esports World Championship was literally going to be decided on the line.
McCarthy pushed for the finish, breaking away from the group and crossing the line solo, taking 40 points and, with that, won the world championship. Guerra and Fuhrer finished just behind, securing their positions on the podium.
Men’s event
Jason Osborne won his second Rainbow Jersey, winning Stage 2 and 3 along the way, beating Lionel Vujasin from Belgium and Kasper Borremans from Finland in an event which he described as “Brutally hard.”
How the race unfolded
Stage 1 saw Team USA dominate, with their three riders taking the first three positions, led by Neal Fryett. At this point in the event, things weren’t looking positive for Osborne who finished in 18th position, picking up only 3 points.
As Stage 2 commenced, the focus was what Team USA could do. Osborne was in the mix during the sprint before the start of the climb, securing 17 points, but then what came next was just unexpected and somewhat incredible.
At the start of the climb, Osborne applied the power, pushing 500 watts and in doing so, he literally rode the other riders off his wheel. He crested the climb securing the maximum 20 points and continued his ferocious pace, at points generating 8.1 w/kg and rode consistently at around 6.5 w/kg to the finish, securing the 40 points on offer.
Osborne’s victory and subsequent double points put himself in the mix for the final stage, leaping from 18th position to 2nd place, only 6 points behind Vujasin.
At the end of lap 1 of Stage 3, Borremans had taken 20 points after winning the first climb, moving up to third overall with Vujasin securing 19 points after coming second. At this point, it wasn’t looking as if victory was possible for Osborne. But then the magic happened.
At around 4.4km of the 16km race, Osborne pushed the pace, just like he did on the previous stage. Vujasin responded and followed along with Borremans.
At the end of lap 2, Osborne had a 6-second lead, pushing 400 watts as he went. However, despite picking up a further 20 points for being first over the climb, he was still in second place overall, but now only a point behind Vujasin, going into the final lap. It was all to play for, but advantage was with Osborne as he had a healthy lead of around 30 seconds.
In the end, Osborne won the stage ahead of Borremans and Danish rider Bjoern Andreassen, which meant he had won the by 3 points.
The overall points read Osborne with 177, Vujasin with 174 and Borremans 164.
Summing up
The 2024 Cycling Esports World Championships were entertaining and congratulations to Mary Kate McCarthy and Jason Osborne for their victories.
Having points to decide the winners was something different from previous editions and in the Women’s race, the victor was decided in literally the final moments, creating a real spectacle. For the Men’s race, due to the closeness of the competition, despite Osborne’s dominance and apparent victory, it wasn’t confirmed until all the points had been tallied, which delayed confirmation of the winner, leading viewers to wait anxiously for the result.
Stage 1 was less action-packed than I had hoped for, with riders really only doing one, or at most two sprints, opting to save their legs for the later stages. If this format was to remain, I would like to see how it could be made more exciting, whether by having a simple sprint stage with multiple points segments which then forces riders to undertake multiple sprints. Despite my reservation abut the stage, absolute credit for trying something different and something that hasn’t been previously done before on this stage.
The event was heavily weighted with shorter, punchy climbs, that were at most, 3-minutes in duration. Perhaps having a longer climb may add an extra dimension to the event. The Road Cycling World Championships has changing courses year on year, I anticipate MyWhoosh to follow this pattern, so I would expect to see a longer climb in future. This will add a further dimension for riders to contend with and consequently allow a different type of rider to compete for the coveted “Rainbow Jersey.”
Despite these minor observation, the 2024 Cycling Esports World Championships has to be viewed as a success. There were no technical issues, the graphics were crisp, (although I hope MyWhoosh addresses the fact that avatars move through one another as opposed to around them), and a good show was put on for the viewers. It is important to note that this is still an emerging sport and development is ongoing, and the live, on-stage show was the first of its kind, so what was delivered, moved the sport in the right direction. I will look forward to the next evolution of the event and all credit to MyWhoosh for delivering an entertaining show.