Victor Kampenaerts of Lotto Dstny has been named to the start list for the 3rd UCI Esports World Championships on Saturday, February 18.

The former world hour record holder will be among 85 male riders to take to Zwift's new Scottish course.

The Esports Worlds, which started in 2020, was won by Adegeest, Jason Osbourne, Jay Vine, and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, with Tom Pidcock, Lauren Stephens, Edvald Boasson Hagen, and Sarah Gigante have participated in the first two editions.

Campenaerts regularly uses Zwift for training and competes in races on Zwift in the winter.

Vine will not be defending his title, as he has moved to UAE Team Emirates and won the Tour Down Under. He will instead compete in the Volta Ao Algarve as part of a strong Australian team with Freddy Ovett.

Both men and women race on the same course on Saturdays, and from 2023 a new format has been introduced with a menu of three races, with riders dropping out after each race.

The 2023 UCI Esports World Championships will start at 6 pm GMT (10 am PST) and will be broadcast live on Zwift's Youtube channel and GCN's Youtube channel.

Cyclingnews will bring you full race reports, reactions, and news.

The 14km "The Punch," which includes two steep wall-like climbs on Zwift's Rolling Highlands course, will set the stage for the opening race of the three races.

From there, the 30 riders will move on to the second race, "The Climb" on the City and Sgur course.

Finally, 10 men and 10 women will advance to the final race, "The Podium," on the Glasgow Crit Circuit. Athletes will complete four laps of a 3 km circuit, with a major uphill climb along the way.

The finale is an elimination race, where three riders compete for the win on the last lap.

Previously, the peloton battled it out on a single course to determine the world champion, much in the same way as a regular road race.Zwift power-ups (open in new tab) are a series of artificial bonuses that give riders temporary speed and weight boosts, continue to be available.

Sunday's start list includes Osborne, Belgian Lionel Vujasin, Aubette, Mary Wilkinson, and Jaki Gobbe, along with Campenaerts and Adeguest.

Vine built his road racing career through the Zwift Academy platform, so missing this year's World Championships was tough for him.

"Combining road racing and e-sports was important to me to honor my path of growth through cycling and also to have the privilege of representing Australia with my wife Bree," Weine said.

"For now, this balance must shift to a professional road racing career and I will not be able to defend my rainbow stripes at the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships.