In a typically wordy press release, everyone’s favourite governing body The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced yesterday that MyWoosh has become the Main Partner of the UCI Road World Championships for the next three editions of the event (2024-2026).
These events, for those of us who don’t keep the next two years worth of calendar in our heads, will be:
- Zurich, Switzerland (21-29 September 2024)
- Kigali, Rwanda (21-28 September 2025)
- Montreal, Canada (20-27 September 2026)
Canada, Rwanda, and Switzerland are not – yet – worlds / maps available in MyWhoosh. But maybe what this means is we will see some special additions, such as the Richmond 2015 UCI Road World Championships map, and the Giro d’Italia Bologna TT Course both added to Zwift with their tie-ins. I think they may also have added France as a big nod to their sponsorship of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Anyway, this should mean some new features and stuff, but no details yet. And heck, I can’t actually find any official MyWhoosh gumph about this one, either.
The last big bit of fanfare from MyWhoosh and the UCI was back in August 2023 when they announced their three year partnership to take over the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships – stealing that juicy prize away from their main rival, Zwift.
If my read is correct, this is a deal whereby MyWhoosh are paying the UCI for this, rather than it being a you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours kind of affair. The same goes for their earlier catch of the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships.
The reason I say that is because of this line (emphasis mine):
The UCI is delighted that, after becoming the new platform and organiser of the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships for the next three years, MyWhoosh has decided to make an even greater commitment to cycling by becoming Main Partner of the UCI Road World Championships – our flagship annual event – for the period 2024-2026. This increased investment from MyWhoosh is further evidence of the interest in cycling that exists in the UAE, and of Abu Dhabi’s ambition to establish itself as a leading host of cycling events and a globally recognised cycling hub.
UCI President David Lappartient
I think the biggest bit of news that I learned during this press release was that MyWhoosh has a staff of over 300. So they must be absolutely burning money, given that their software is completely free of charge (right now, anyway).
By comparison, Zwift has 550 employees, according to Google. Not sure how accurate this is. LinkedIn has them around 501-1,000 employees, so I guess pretty close. LinkedIn shows MyWhoosh at 51-200 employees.
I’ll post up any more news about this as I find it.