The UCI announced today that the first ever World Championships in Cycling Esports will be held December 8-9, 2020.

The 2020 Road World Championships, which were scheduled for September 20-27 in Switzerland, were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions (open in new tab), but the same restrictions do not apply to esports due to its remote nature.

All events will be held in the virtual world of Watopia, the indoor cycling (open in new tab) platform Zwift (open in new tab), where racers will compete completely remotely for a newly designed rainbow jersey awarded virtually. The winner will also be provided with a physical jersey, which will be worn at eSports competitions throughout his/her reign.

Plans for the UCI's Esports World Championships were announced during the 2019 World Championships in Yorkshire, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown (opens in new tab).

But it was during the lockdown that eSports and virtual racing really gained a foothold among professional cyclists. Various events replaced postponed real-world races, including a locked-down version of the Tour of Flanders (opens in new tab) and the Virtual Tour de France (opens in new tab).

UCI President David Lapartient called it a "historic moment" and said: "This has certainly been a difficult year for all, but we are now back to enjoying the races and looking forward to the new UCI World Championships at the end of 2020. During the period when the competition was suspended, virtual racing gained great popularity and I truly believe that eSports has the potential to increase participation in this sport."

The UCI World Championships will be held at the UCI World Championships in the United States in the fall of 2020.

Each national federation will be assigned slots based on certain criteria, which have not yet been finalized, including UCI road rankings as of June 2020, the number of riders available on the Zwift platform, and the number of riders in the anti-doping registration testing pool.

Automatic invitations will be sent to 20 federations for men and 13 federations for women, although the UCI has confirmed that the maximum number of possible entrants is the same for both men and women. In addition, both competitions will be competed on the same courses, over the same distances, with the same coverage and the same prize money.

Eric Min, CEO and co-founder of Zwift, sees the World Championships as an opportunity to establish Esports, and of course Zwift, as a mainstay on the cycling calendar.

"2020 is a big year for esports, filling the gap left by traditional sports. [It's not about filling a gap, it's about truly complementing other disciplines like road, cyclo-cross, mountain biking, etc... There is a huge opportunity to grow the sport with esports and we are proud to be leading the way with the UCI."

Italy, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Australia, Spain, USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Colombia, New Zealand, South Africa, Norway, Ireland, Japan.

Netherlands, Italy, Australia, France, USA, Germany, Belgium, UK, Poland, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan.