- Belgian cyclist Greg Van Avermaet won the first virtual Tour of Flanders on Sunday, between thirteen riders pedaling on rollers.
- The runners were connected to each other via an internet platform.
- This first virtual race in history could inspire other organizers.
Win the Tour of Flanders from your attic. The Belgian Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) proved, on Sunday, that it was possible by winning in a virtual "Round" which opposed thirteen riders pedaling on rollers, connected to each other via an internet platform.
The real Tour of Flanders, originally scheduled for Sunday, having been canceled (or postponed) following the coronavirus pandemic, the organizer Flanders Classics had set up a "Lockdown Edition".
Virtual race in video game mode
In concrete terms, viewers will have watched a race on their separate TV screen in two: on the left the runners filmed in full effort at their home and on the right the virtual race in video game mode.
The goal: to allow the tens of thousands of fans "weaned from cycling" to vibrate for their idols, the race being broadcast by Flemish public television. A consolation, too, for the sponsors in these times of scarcity.
The supporters of the Olympic champion will not have been disappointed, Van Avermaet winning, at 35, with 20 seconds ahead of his compatriot Oliver Naesen and the Irishman Nicolas Roche.
Very real effort.
And if it was only a virtual race, the effort was very real to him. The proof by the abandonment of the Australian Michael Matthews, at the end of the… roll and forced to abandon at 13 kilometers from the finish after “an effort too violent” for him.
Van Avermaet, installed in the attic of his home in Dendermonde (Belgium) could rejoice after having twice finished second (2014, 2017) and once third (2015) in the real race.
"I hope that the real Tour of Flanders can take place in the autumn and that I can then really win it," said training leader CCC, a Polish team in great financial difficulty since the start of the Covid-19 crisis .
Reproduced suction effect
"My granddaughter [who appeared from time to time on the screen behind her father], who did not understand why her father was busy running a home race, is very happy for me," continued the Belgian, hilarious . It was a funny feeling: we suffer a lot without having the feeling of being in the race. I think my heart rate has never been higher. ”
"The suction effect was also reproduced, the effort being more intense for the leading runner than for those placed in his wheel", explained the Belgian Tim Wellens after his service performed from the balcony of his apartment in ... Monaco .
"I probably had a better view than Oliver Naesen who pedaled in his cellar in Belgium," he joked.
This first virtual race in history could inspire other organizers.
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- Sport
- Cycling
- Tour of Flanders
- Internet
- Coronavirus
- Containment
- Virtual reality
- Cycling