How to watch the Digital Swiss Five virtual races and full start list, featuring Sam Bennett and Greg Van Avermaet

The online race, running from Wednesday, includes an all-star cast

GC group on stage nine of the Tour de Suisse 2019 (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The coronavirus crisis has forced the cycling world to adapt and overcome over the last few months, which has resulted in some unexpected new events.

Cycling data company Velon, which works with a large number of WorldTour teams, has come up with an innovative new race to keep fans in touch with superstars online.

The Digital Swiss Five, organised by Velon and the Tour de Suisse, kicks off on Wednesday (April 22) and runs over five days, with stars like Julian Alaphilippe, Remco Evenepoel, and world champion Mads Pedersen all virtually lining up.

A total of 19 teams will race in the online event, including 16 WorldTour teams, with Team Ineos, Deceuninck – Quick-Step and Mitchelton-Scott all taking part.

Here’s the full start list and  how to watch the unique race :

Start list for race one

Ag2r La Mondiale (Fra)

Silvan Dillier

Julien Duval

Alexis Gougeard

Bahrain-McLaren (Brn)

Phil Bauhaus

Ivan Garcia Cortina

Jan Tratnik

Bora-Hansgrohe (Ger)

Lukas Pöstlberger

Martin Laas

Patrick Gamper

CCC Team (Pol)

Kamil Gradek

Greg Van Avermaet

Gjis Van Hoecke

Deceuninck - Quick-Step (Bel)

Sam Bennett

Rémi Cavagna

Michael Mørkøv

EF Pro Cycling (USA)

Mitch Docker

Moreno Hofland

Tom Scully

Groupama-FDJ (Fra)

Stefan Küng

Fabian Lienhard

Benjamin Thomas

Israel Start-Up Nation (Isr)

Alexander Cataford

Davide Cimolai

James Piccoli

Lotto-Soudal (Bel)

Frederik Frison

Brian Van Goethem

Florian Vermeersch

Mitchelton-Scott (Aus)

Michael Albasini

Michael Hepburn

Callum Scotson

Movistar (Esp)

Gabriel Cullaigh

Johan Jacobs

Jurgen Roelandts

NTT Pro Cycling (RSA)

Edvald Boasson

Hagen Rasmus Tiller

Max Walscheid

Rally Cycling (USA)

Stephen Bassett

Matteo Dal-Cin

Nickolas Zukowsky

Team Ineos (Gbr)

Filippo Ganna

Chris Lawless

Ian Stannard

Jumbo-Visma (Ned)

Pascal Eenkhoorn

Amund Grøndahl Jansen

Mike Teunissen

Sunweb (Ger)

Alberto Dainese

Nico Denz

Michael Matthews

Total Direct Energie (Fra)

Romain Cardis

Florian Maitre

Lorenzo Manzin

Trek-Segafredo (USA)

Mads Pedersen

Edward Theuns

Emils Liepiņš

Swiss National Team (SUI)

Stefan Bissegger

Claudio Imhof

Michael Schâr

How to watch

The race will be broadcast on TV in a number of nations around the world, including Belgium, France and Germany, but it will not be shown on TV in the UK.

A VPN provider like ExpressVPN can protect your privacy as well as unblock geo-locked content so you can access your home broadcaster’s coverage even when away from home. Try risk-free with a 30-day money-back trial.

But UK fans don’t need to fear, Velon and all the teams racing in the event will be broadcasting live on Facebook and Twitter (but not in the USA, Canada and Japan).

Race schedule:

Race one: Wednesday, April 22, 4.10pm – 5.20 UK time

Race two: Thursday, April 23, 4.10pm – 5.20pm UK time

Race three: Friday, April 24, 4.10 – 5.20 UK time

Race four: Saturday, April 25, 5.10pm – 6.20 UK time

Race five: Sunday, April 26, 1.10pm – 2.20pm UK time

Broadcast coverage:

Europe

Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Italy: ELEVEN Sports Network

Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia: SportKlub

France and DOM-TOM: L’Équipe

Germany: ZDF

Netherlands: NOS

Switzerland: SRG

Scandinavia 

Denmark: TV2

Norway: TV2

Middle East

Israel: Sport 5

Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa: SuperSport

Asia

Japan: J-Sports

Myanmar, Taiwan: ELEVEN Sports Network

North America

USA and Canada: FloBikes

Australia 

SBS Australia

New Zealand 

Sky NZ

Global 

Olympic Channel (excluding USA and Canada)

The Digital Swiss Five will use virtual training platform Rouvy and will feature climbs and courses from the real-life Tour de Suisse.

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Alex Ballinger

Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers.  Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.