A Preview of the UCI eSports World Championships 2020

The first ever UCI eSports World Championships will take place this week, and the entries for the competition have certainly not disappointed. The event will be held in the Zwift world of Watopia.

The Covid-19 pandemic has driven many events online, and one to benefit from that has been eSports cycling. We will see many pros take to the 50km course in a bid to win glory, despite not being able to race ride at the moment in the real world.

Here is our look at the 2020 UCI eSports World Championships.

Who is Taking Part?

There are a total of 78 riders in the men’s race and 54 in the women’s race, so numbers are very strong. These come from 22 different nations across the two races, spanning the entire globe from the USA to Australia, Japan and then over to Europe.

The country with most representatives in the men’s race is Belgium, they have nine riders involved, followed by the USA with eight and Australia with seven. Over in the women’s race, the USA lead the way with nine, followed by three teams who all have six, Great Britain, Australia and Germany.

In terms of big names from the men’s race, look out for Belgian pair Victory Campenaerts and Thomas De Gendt, they will offer a strong challenge for their country. Columbia is also represented well, with Esteban Chaves and Rigoberto Uran taking to the track.

Tom Pidcock from Great Britain, Alberto Bettiol from Italy, Lawson Craddock from the USA, Jack Haig from Australia and the Norwegian racer Edvald Boasson Hagen round off the big names.

Over in the women’s race, look out for what appears to be a very exciting Dutch team. They have double road world champion anna Van Der Breggen in the team alongside Annemiek Van Vleuten and Kirsten Wild.

Another big name in the women’s race is Sarah Storey from Great Britain, a woman who has 14 Paralympic gold medals to her name.

The Course

Both the men’s and women’s races will use the same 50km course for their respective races. The course is a figure eight course on the fictional Zwift island of Watopia. The total elevation game in the race is 483 metres and there are two designated climbs as part of the contest.

Anyone who has ridden on Zwift before will know the route they are taking as it is one of the most popular. The women’s race will begin at 2:40pm CET while the men will get underway at 3:45pm CET.

Prize money for the two races is the same, with the winner receiving €8000, second receiving €4000 and the third receiving €2000. On top of this, winners will receive a digital world champions jersey, which they can wear in future sanctioned virtual races.

How to Win Betting on eSports

Anyone looking to try eSports betting can do so on the many new eSports betting sites that are now available. The growth in this area has been huge over the past decade, so we are seeing more events and more ways to bet on eSports than ever before.

Rules from sports betting can be used when placing bets on eSports and they begin with a fundamental, which is creating a staking plan. This will keep your bets structured and uniformed, you don’t want to be betting based on emotion and recent winners as this strategy will only come back to bite you.

This ties into the next rule which is bet what you can afford to lose only, and no more. When creating your staking plan, figure out a rough number of bets per week, assume every one of them lost and ask yourself if you can afford to lose this money in one week. This is incredibly important if you bet on multiple eSports, such as Dota2, CS:GO and more, to keep everything in check.

Accumulator bets offer huge odds but they also offer a small chance of winning. Get one and it will be a good day, but the key to gambling is small and consistent profit, which this type of bet doesn’t offer. An accumulator may look good, but it does not offer the right approach for someone looking to plan ahead for the future.

Finally, trust your judgement. You know what your knowledge is like based around eSports, if you think you know a lot then trust yourself. You may get it wrong from time to time, but if you have the right knowledge then you can bet with confidence and trust your opinions.