Building on the success of its earlier foray into esports, Super League Triathlon will stage its own virtual race series on Zwift featuring top athletes such as Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, Vincent Luis, Kristian Blummenfelt and Sophie Coldwell.
The Super League Triathlon eSports Cycling Series kicks-off live on Thursday June 11 (7pm BST). All races start at 7pm (BST) with the men racing on Thursday nights and the women on Tuesdays. All races will be broadcast live on Super League Triathlon’s YouTube channel.
Super League is supporting athletes during these challenging times and has arranged this series to keep them in the spotlight, earning money and providing exciting action for sports fans.
Some of the biggest names in the sport such as double Olympic gold medallist Alistair Brownlee will compete in teams from Great Britain, France, Norway, USA, Germany, Australia, Canada and Brazil over a Series of five closed events on Zwift.
There is prize money in each race for the first three riders across the line as well as a cash bonus for the team who accumulates the most points in the intermediate sprints and KOM/QOMs in each race. The big money is paid to the top three teams in the Team Classification Leaderboard at the end of the series.
All events will be raced in teams of four athletes, each representing their country, with a few extra guests temporarily switching their allegiances to take part, and will wear bespoke Super League kits created especially for Zwift. The races will not feature power ups.
Teams can contain more than four riders, but only four will race in each event. Guest riders are allowed but there must be a minimum of two Super League athletes in each team.
The roster is a who’s who of big names.
Double Olympic gold medallist Alistair Brownlee leads a British team which also features his brother Jonny and Alex Yee.
Brownlee said:
I am really looking forward to racing in the Super League Triathlon esports Cycling Series.
As triathletes we have had to adapt to doing a lot more training indoors during lockdown and these races will really help with motivation and feel very competitive.
There are some strong athletes taking part so there should be some hard racing to look forward to and I am obviously hoping that the team from Great Britain will come out on top.
Super League champion Vincent Luis will be riding for France while a man widely regarded as one of the most powerful bikers in the sport, Kristian Blummenfelt, is representing Norway.
Sophie Coldwell has proved a massive success in virtual racing during the recent lockdown and is a strong contender in the female side with the full women’s line up to be confirmed shortly.
In every race the combined times of the two fastest riders from each team will count towards the overall Team Classification Leaderboards.
Each individual race will also award points for the quickest athletes in intermediate sprints and KOMs/QOMs. The team with the most points picks up a cash bonus at the end of the race.
Each of the five races will be broadcast live as part of a full hour long show, with Will McCloy joined by Chris McCormack and Annie Emerson. There will also be post-race interviews with the athletes on Instagram Live.
For more information, log on to superleaguetriathlon.com.
