The meteoric rise of virtual cycling events in 2020 has led to the establishment of the first-ever Cycling eSports World Championships. Live coverage begins below at 8 am CST on Wednesday, December 9.

Three Rally Cycling riders have earned a spot for the inaugural event – Pier-André Coté and Matteo Dal-Cin will represent Team Canada while Krista Doebel-Hickok will wear the stars and stripes for Team USA.

Dal-Cin is a rider to watch after winning stage 3 of the Virtual Tour de France earlier this summer while teammate Coté came agonizingly close to claiming the opening stage to finish second. Doebel-Hickok has been the team’s most consistent rider having claimed countless top 10s in virtual races throughout 2020.

The riders will tackle Watopia’s Figure 8 course in reverse for a total of 50 km. The flat to rolling course finishes on a 3.7 km corkscrew QOM/KOM that averages 3.2 percent with a maximum pitch of 8.8 percent. The long-awaited showdown between the indoor specialists and the WorldTour roadies has finally arrived.