'The difference between a good and great Esports racer can be found in marginal gains such as fuelling properly' – The secret lives of elite indoor cyclists

Outside, it’s dark and freezing cold. Inside, Ruben Dhondt is sweating profusely, pushing 400 watts for 20 minutes on an indoor trainer. You may never have heard of him, but Dhondt is one of the best Esports cyclists in the world. The 25-year-old financial consultant is part of a growing group of indoor specialists capable of producing WorldTour-level power numbers.

What makes these riders remarkable is not just their performances in the virtual world, but their lives in the real world. Almost all of them work full-time jobs and squeeze elite-level training into half the volume ridden by pro road racers. These are the stories of people finding elite performance in the margins of everyday life.

Medicine by day, Medals by night

• Name: Francesca Tommasi
• Age: 27
• Lives: Verona, Italy
• Years Eracing: 3
• Occupation: Medical doctor
• Biggest result: 3rd – UCI Esports World Championships (2025)

With 1km to go in the 2025 UCI Esports World Championships, Francesca Tommasi was sitting fourth, seven points shy of the medals at her first ever Esports Worlds. But she wasn’t going to settle for fourth. Tommasi went all-in with a solo attack, risking everything, and she made it. The 27-year-old crossed the finish line and earned maximum points, moving her up into third and the final spot on the podium. It was the result of a lifetime for an Esports rider whose vocation is equally if not more demanding.

Occupation and sport have always gone hand-in-hand for Tommasi. She describes her time in medical school as “very challenging” in part because she was also competing as a professional runner. “I always thought it would be worth it," she says. “I believe that my sports side and my student side have never been in conflict, but rather they have strengthened each other: certain aspects of one helped me get through difficult times with the other, and vice versa.”

Tommasi was working towards her medical degree when she competed in the 2023 Giro d’Italia Donne. For a time, it was elite sport getting in the way of her profession, not the other way around. So she took a step back from road cycling, and in 2024 set her eyes on the UCI Esports World Championships. Training less than 15 hours per week, Tommasi is able to fit cycling around her professional schedule. “You can train at any time of day, and training sessions are more time-efficient and do not require the long hours typical of road cycling. For example, on very busy workdays I can fit my training into an hour or hour-and-a-half session, either before work or in the evening when I get home.”

Tommasi follows a simple training plan that allows time for work and recovery. Each week, “the sessions are varied and include high-intensity and low-intensity sessions, gym training and core stability work. Recovery weeks are built into the programme.”

As for nutrition, the Italian loves to cook. She describes a typical race morning: “I love eating toast with yogurt and marmalade and a piece of pie or plumcake that I usually make a day or two before.”

You might think that Tommasi would be kept busy by training, racing and being a medical doctor, but she also runs her own small business, baking cakes, breads, pizzas and pies. There is much more to her life than Eracing, and although she will target a repeat of her Worlds podium, the bigger picture includes a plan to open her own medical practice in the next year.

Tommasi follows a simple training plan that allows time for work and recovery. Each week, “the sessions are varied and include high-intensity and low-intensity sessions, gym training and core stability work. Recovery weeks are built into the programme.”

As for nutrition, the Italian loves to cook. She describes a typical race morning: “I love eating toast with yogurt and marmalade and a piece of pie or plumcake that I usually make a day or two before.”

You might think that Tommasi would be kept busy by training, racing and being a medical doctor, but she also runs her own small business, baking cakes, breads, pizzas and pies. There is much more to her life than Eracing, and although she will target a repeat of her Worlds podium, the bigger picture includes a plan to open her own medical practice in the next year

From Running Track to Zwift Podiums

• Name: Ruben Dhondt
• Age: 25
• Lives: Geraardsbergen, Belgium
• Years Eracing: 4
• Occupation: Financial consultant
• Biggest result: 2nd – Zwift Games Overall (2025)

Perhaps the most remarkable part of Ruben Dhondt’s rise to the top of indoor racing is that he has never raced outdoors. The former 800m runner took to Zwift in 2021 as “alternative training during the dark and cold winter days.” Dhondt had just been diagnosed with a hip impingement, putting an end to his track-and-field career.

Working remotely as a financial consultant, Dhondt lives with his parents and siblings at the base of the Muur van Geraardsbergen in Belgium. He works until 5:30pm, splits chores with his family, and trains in the evening. The 25-year-old is still able to train 15 hours per week.

Dhondt is self-coached, and uses these three pillars to achieve peak performance: “having fun, listening to my body, and consistency”. Dhondt does largely the same training week after week, rather than focusing on a training camp or goal race, which “means I need fewer rest periods so I can be more consistent over a long period.”

Though he keeps track of his training, he doesn’t complete structured workouts. Instead, he races himself fit. “I select a race I want to participate in and adjust my racing style to the training stimuli I need.”

Another contrast between Dhondt and professional road riders is his riding style. Like other runners-turned-cyclists, the Belgian prefers to ride out of the saddle at 65-75rpm. Rarely does he stay in the saddle for more than five seconds at a time, but the style works for him. When it comes to racing, Dhondt has one major quirk in this routine: he warms up next to his bike, not on it. Instead of a typical pre-race warm-up, “My warm-up is usually a 15-minute activation session that I do on a fitness mat – a habit from my track and-field career.”

Dhondt listens to upbeat techno music while racing, and always has the course profile in front of him. When it comes to specialised training methods, he has only one: heat training. “Heat training mirrors the effects of altitude training,” he explains, “and it is also less expensive than booking a trip to Calpe [in Spain].”

The rest of Dhondt’s training is basic but effective. “The difference between a good and great Esports racer can be found in marginal gains such as fuelling properly, taking supplements – caffeine, sodium bicarbonate, etc – effective recovery, getting enough sleep, focusing on protein intake and consistency.”

The Belgian had an exceptional 2025, earning top results in elite races throughout the year. He says that finishing second overall in the 2025 Zwift Games increased his “confidence and motivation that I could perform well in this sport.” That right there is a lesson in itself: confidence is critical. We have all been spat out the back of a Zwift peloton, wheezing and suffering, defeated and deflated. Don’t let it knock your confidence; it’s part of the learning process.

The racer who quit her job to discover her limits

• Name: Katerina Karamani
• Age: 28 Lives: London, UK Years Eracing: 2
• Occupation: On career break after 10 years in corporate finance
• Biggest result: 1st – MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club Endurance Climb

A decade ago, at 18 years old, Kat Karamani was “juggling a university degree, qualifying as a chartered accountant, working full-time in a demanding role at KPMG and training.” It may sound like a recipe for burnout, but she says it was “the most challenging period of my life and gave me a level of resilience that still underpins everything I do now.” A year ago, Karamani decided to take a career break from the corporate world and committed to Esports cycling. She is already competing at the highest level of verified racing.

Karamani trains more than any other Esports racer we’ve interviewed: 20 hours per week, plus daily yoga and stretching, and an hour of weekly core work. But the work doesn’t always come easy, as she has to balance training with work and family commitments. “I’m learning to be compassionate with myself and listen to my body,” she says. “I’ve learned to back off without spiralling into fear about losing fitness.”

"For me, the mental focus is what separates a good racer from a great one,” says Karamani. “The best riders are very good at staying present and not getting too caught up in the outcome. Instead, they focus on executing the next effort well.”

To find her best legs, Karamani’s routine includes course recon the day before a race, the same wake-up time and pre-race food. “I do a 15-minute warm-up, finishing about 10 minutes before the start,” she says. “I like to stretch and take a few minutes to get mentally in the zone, running through the course in my head. I don’t overthink weigh-ins, and I fuel and hydrate just as I would for a hard training session. Having these routines gives me a sense of calm and control.”

Karamani’s partner has four kids, “so family life is part of the picture.” When the going gets tough, she falls back on her routines, narrowing her focus, and minimising distractions. And Karamani is aiming big: the UCI Esports World Championships, to be exact. Having already worn the GB national team kit in the Worlds semi-final, the next step is earning a spot at the Worlds in Abu Dhabi.

Combining caring and competing

• Name: Elyse Gallegos
• Age: 39
• Lives: Huntsville, Alabama
• Years Eracing: 5
• Occupation: Registered nurse in neonatal ICU
• Biggest result: 11th – UCI Esports World Championships (2025)

Before flying halfway across the world to Abu Dhabi, UAE, Elyse Gallegos said goodbye to her two children, aged four and seven.

The registered nurse from Alabama, USA, trains 10-15 hours per week and competes alongside the best Esports cyclists in the world. While

her competitors have time to go to the gym, then have a massage or ice bath, Gallegos jumps straight from training to cooking for her children and helping them get ready for school.

Amid the chaos, Gallegos finds time to wake up at 1am to race the MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club, where she is a regular top-10 finisher. Her

results were so good that she was invited to compete in the UCI Esports World Championships, where she finished 11th in Abu Dhabi. Routines and planning are everything for Gallegos. This is how she prepares for a race: “I have notes written out for the course, bottles made, pedals charged, kit laid out, scales and video ready to go, so it’s just automatic when the 1am alarm goes off to race at 2am every Sunday.”

Gallegos does a 10-minute yoga session before weighing in for verified races, and this is all taking place at one in the morning. Gallegos does more gym work than most cyclists, fitting in three sessions per week on top of two high-intensity interval days and base miles. When it comes to fuelling, she has her pre-race routine dialled, consuming bicarb, electrolytes, carb mix, honey, and a caffeine tab between the weigh-in and race start.

At 39, Gallegos is still aiming to improve in the upcoming seasons. Her big goals this year are to finish on the podium in the MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club, and improve upon her 11th-place finish at the UCI Esports World Championships.

Indoor Incentives: Six-figure prize funds

Esports cycling has become a lucrative career for many athletes. Top earners can expect to win more than £100,000 per year in prize money, the majority of which comes from the MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club which offers thousands of pounds in prize money every weekend.

Some countries put on prestigious national championship events complete with a live audience, in-person racing, big prize money, and a coveted jersey. Denmark and Sweden are leading the way for in-person Eracing, and rumours are circulating about the formation of an Eracing international race calendar and Olympics aspirations.