In neighboring countries, many professional cyclists already only train on the roller. Fortunately, this is not necessary in Switzerland. However, all athletes miss the races equally, after all, they have been training for them all winter. Thanks to The Digital Swiss 5, they can now ride a mini Tour de Suisse on their networked training rollers. The pro teams invited were those that would have taken part in the Tour of Switzerland.
Three riders per team will compete, although they can change from stage to stage. Swiss Cycling has now announced which Swiss riders will be pedaling in their training room as members of the national team: In addition to the most successful Swiss road pros such as Stephan Küng and Michael Albasini, mountain bikers Filippo Colombo and Nino Schurter are also listed.
The online training platform Rouvy is used, which has made a name for itself with its realistic routes with many Alpine passes. For example, you ride up the Nufenen Pass while the smart training roller continuously adjusts the resistance to the gradient. The five stages of the Digital Swiss 5 take about an hour - depending on the pace set by the pros. It will be interesting to see how the races develop when the slipstream doesn't play a role and the power games in the field don't work. The e-cycling race is basically an individual competition, but of course team-mates can still agree who will launch an attack and when.
One hour of racing - that's a sprint for road racing. This should suit the cross-country bikers, as they are used to only riding for around an hour and a half, but at full throttle from start to finish - an exciting comparison of performance between road specialists and bikers, in which raw pedal power counts.
Swiss television will not let itself be outdone and will broadcast the races live with commentary. The screen on which all the racing avatars pedal will be shown. In addition, a camera will provide live images from the training cellar of a different Swiss rider every day. In other words: the race is virtual, but the athletes' suffering will be absolutely real.
digital-swiss-5.ch