It was a race for the history books. The first-ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships took place on Zwift on Wednesday, December 9, 2020. The team representing Canada consisted of three riders in the women’s race and five in the men’s race with both groups racing on the same 50km course in the virtual Zwift world of Watopia.
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BC’s Georgia Simmerling from Vancouver finished as the top Canadian woman in 18th place, Angela Naeth from Prince George placed 35th and Jordan Cheyne from Big White in 41st overall in the Men’s division. In an interview with canadiancyclist.com after the race, Simmerling had this to say about the finish and applying the video-game aspects of the race to her strategy, “It came down to that last climb and who was going to be at the top at the end of the race. A lot came down to how and when you hit your power-ups; that last climb got very, very hard, and I did the best I could and ended up top-20.”
The overall winners were Ashley Moolman Pasio from South Africa and Jason Osborne of Germany taking home the virtual rainbow jersey.
Congratulations to all our Canadian riders on this truly historic event in the world of cycling and Esports.
Check out our Cycling BC events calendar for upcoming virtual race and ride opportunities hosted by our local clubs and Cycling Canada.