This weekend our Cycling New Zealand Esports riders will be lining up to compete in the 2nd ever edition of the Esports World Championships. The squad is comprised of 3 women and 5 men with a Pro Zwift rider, a UCI World Tour Pro and National Champions in the mix. Although viewed by some as an outside contender the team will be ready come Sunday morning to vie for the Rainbow bands and put the New Zealand colours on display on the world stage for the first time in 2022.
What the women’s team lacks in numbers they make up for in depth with previous Zwift Academy winner Ella Harris who now rides professionally with Canyon-SRAM, Sonia Foote who has represented New Zealand on the global stage many times as a Mountain Biker and Sarah Morrison who has three silver medals in the Time Trial at Masters World Championships level.
On the Men’s side we have numbers and depth with the team led by Ollie Jones of Canyon Esports who is well established in the Esports scene with numerous strong placings including 4th at the inaugural Esport World Championships. Alongside Ollie we have strong domestic talent including ex National TT champion Paul Odlin, Alex Heaney who finished 2nd on GC at Tour of Southland in 2019, James Harvey a former wearer of the yellow jersey at Tour of Southland and consistant performer Sam Lindsay.
Interim High Performance Director, Amy Taylor said:
“It’s super exciting to see the growth of Esports recently and the opportunities being created for our riders who can’t make the long trips overseas to get exposure on the world stage. We look forward to seeing the opportunities this new format has to offer in the future.”
Ollie Jones said:
“It's really nice to be in an expanded NZ team this year. Last time I was the only male representative from NZ but this year there are 5 of us to make an impact on the race. That's the same number as cycling powerhouses like Great Britain and Germany, and more than the Dutch and Norwegians. It's a privilege to be at the forefront of the progression of this new code.”
Sonia Foote said:
“I’m super excited to be competing in a World Championships from my shed! Esports has been so awesome for me as a Mum. It's given me the ability to be competitive in my sport again without compromising my family.”
The race will be run over 2.5 laps of the challenging New York Knickerbocker course set in a futuristic New York. The course is comprised of an undulating lap of Central Park and punctuated by a 1.36km climb up the NYC KOM which the riders will finish atop on their third ascent. The climb though short and with only an average gradient of 6.4% has real teeth. This climbs nature, much like Zwift racing itself leaves little chance to find a rhythm, constantly alternating between flatter sections and sharp pinches with numerous ramps of over 15%. With the constant undulations throughout and 3 times up the punchy NYC KOM the race is likely to splinter and come down to a reduced bunch sprint to the line which particularly favours our professional Esports rider Ollie Jones.
It is interesting to note the gamification aspect of the Esport World Championships. In both races all power ups will be active and the timing with which they’re used could prove to be critical. Combine this with the drafting mechanics of the game and it’s likely that regulars of the Zwift world could hold a slight advantage which could prove to be critical in the notoriously tight racing that is typical of Esports racing.
If you’re interested in reading more about power ups check out this great article about the Esports World Championships by Cycling News:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/uci-esports-world-championships/
Where to watch: The UCI Cycling Esports World Championships will be broadcast live across Eurosport, discovery+, GCN+ and Zwift's YouTube channel from 6am on Sunday 27 February 2022 New Zealand time.
Men’s race begins at 6:15am
Women’s race begins at 7:45am
The full team line up:
Women:
- Ella Harris (Age: 23, 26th UCI Road World Championships 2021, 2nd in the 2020 Pro Tour for Alpe du Zwift Stage 5)
- Sonia Foote (Age: 43, 2x NZ National Cross Country Mountain Bike Champion, Multiple time New Zealand representative across XCO World Championships, Xterra and Commonwealth Games.
- Sarah Morrison (Age: 44, 3x TT silver medallist at Masters World Championships)
Men:
- Ollie Jones (Age: 25, 2nd GC New Zealand Cycle Classic 2022, 21st Mont Ventoux Challenge 2021, 4th Esports World Championships 2020, 4 wins in pro Esports races)
- Alex Heaney (Age: 27, 2nd GC Tour of Southland 2019)
- Paul Odlin (Age: 43, ex National Champion TT, 3rd Oceania World Championships Esports Qualifying)
- Sam Lindsay (Age: 30)
- James Harvey (Age: 31, Tour of Southland 2019 Prologue TTT 1st and yellow jersey, Zwift Classics NZ 2021; 1st - Crit City Slam, Richmond Cup, Rund Am Innsbruck, Trofeo Bologna, London International; 2nd - Watopia Cup; 3rd - Apple Lap)