Loes Adegeest, Jay Vine Win UCI Esports World Titles
Loes Adegeest of The Netherlands and Jay Vine of Australia won the 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship titles after conquering the Knickerbocker circuit in Zwift's New York.
Women
As anticipated, the women’s race was a war of attrition. Numerous contenders on each lap of the grueling circuit found themselves being dropped. Less than a dozen women remained in contention entering the final lap. Defending champion Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio of South Africa was isolated amongst teams from the USA, Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark. The USA were the attackers throughout the lap, with Katheryn Curi launching a strong solo effort heading into the final climb in the final kilometers up the super steep climb of the New York QOM.
Curi was caught at the base of the climb with 2.1km to go and immediately fell off the back. Defending champion Moolman-Pasio surged to the front and launched an attack on the first steep ramp to reduce the lead group to four riders. Missing from the final group were all team USA riders.
As the group entered the final meters, power-ups were deployed. But it was Adegeest of the Netherlands, deploying her feather PowerUp with 200 meters to go, who took the title, outsprinting Cecilia Hansen (Sweden) and Zoe Langham (Great Britain). Moolman-Pasio finished fourth.
"It was better than a dream come true!" said an elated Adegeest. "I knew I had to save the feather if I was going to win the sprint. I saw Ashleigh use hers earlier further down and knew my chances were getting better!"
Women’s 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship results:
1. Loes Adegeest, Netherlands – 8,000 Euros
2. Cecilia Hansen, Sweden – $4,000 Euros
3. Zoe Langham, Great Britain – $2,000 Euros
Men
The men's race, like most Zwift events, started extremely high-paced. Many top contenders were forced to the front of the pack early in order to avoid being dropped. Numerous attempts at a breakaway were swatted away by the peloton.
Tomoaki Takasugi of Japan and Rick Ottema of The Netherlands made a two man break stick, but they were safely brought back by the peloton with 26 kilometers remaining. Because of the length of the event (significantly longer than most races in the Zwift Racing League Premier Division), many contenders attempted to sit back and enjoy the drafting benefit within the peloton, including defending champion, Jason Osborne (Germany).
With 15km remaining, six men saw an opportunity to leave the big favorites behind. The group of Pirotte (Belgium), Kepplinger (Austria), Fjellheim (Norway), Seggebruch (USA), Bouchard (Canada) & Maertens (Germany) broke away from the front and opened up a 15 second gap over the chasing peloton, led by Australia and 2021 Zwift Academy finalist Sam Hill.
The old adage of there being no honor amongst thieves, however, came to rear its ugly head as the breakaway hit the final KOM, with a series of attacks from within the group shattering the breakaway and watching as the peloton began to claw back the critical seconds. Out of the breakaway, Kepplinger was the first to launch what looked to be a winning attack with a mere 500 meters to go.
However, the Austrian was caught by a charging peloton. Defending champion, Jason Osborne burst from the bunch with an unexpected Aero PowerUp and looked set to defend his title. But the Australian pair of Jay Vine and Freddy Ovett worked together to overtake Osborne in the closing meters, with Vine through to take the title.
Men’s 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship Results
1. Jay Vine, Australia
2. Freddy Ovett, Australia
3. Jason Osborne, Germany
