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.
