The Professional Athletes' Union (Cyclistes Professionels Associés, CPA) is urging the UCI to protect sensitive rider data in cycling's new e-sports discipline ahead of the new esports world championships in 2020.

Applications like Zwift, which will host next year's World Championships, will collect rider data such as height, weight, heart rate, and watts per kilogram to measure performance on a virtual course, but CPA President Gianni Bugno He warns that this information cannot be shared.

"We believe that protecting riders' freedom of choice with respect to the sharing of confidential rider data is a matter of paramount importance," Bugno said in a CPA press release. Riders must be free to decide on an individual basis whether to allow teams to release their data, and if so, at what cost, or whether to use the data privately for promotional purposes or to keep it completely private."

The CPA, together with the UCI Working Group on esports, aims to promote regulations to ensure rider privacy.

"It is good that eSports companies are starting important projects for this new discipline, involving professional road racing riders who bring accolades and value to the sport. However, since this is a completely new discipline, ad hoc regulations will be needed," Bugno said.

"Sensitive data is the exclusive property of the individual rider and cannot be shared without his/her permission; the use of athlete data in the context of esports has broad legal and commercial implications that the governing bodies of cycling, together with all stakeholders, must be It must be addressed."

All European Union citizens are subject to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation regarding the transfer of personal data within and outside the EU.

The CPA hopes that professional riders will be able to seize the new opportunities presented by esports "with transparency, profitability, and full confidence that their rights are protected."

The CPA intends to renew its joint agreement with the Association of Teams (AIGCP) to include a discussion of data protection in esports.

"We appreciate that the UCI will soon set up a working group with the participation of the CPA to discuss this urgent issue, and we hope that the sports organizations are willing to recognize the fundamental rights of riders in the joint agreement," Bugno said.