Joeri Dlnr and Kalixar Alixar take victory at the inaugural E-Fondo Florida
Additional events added to cope with sheer demand for thousands of cyclists to race from around the world
The first round of the new E-Fondo Series produced Colnago Gran Fondo National Series (GFNS) and RGT Cycling took place last Sunday February 7th with 3 start times targeted to cover times zones across North America, the UK and Europe.
Due to demand additional Bonus Start times were made available on the RGT racing platform to cope with sheer demand as 1000’s of rider clambered to enter.
The racing was fast and furious with some talented groups of cyclists breaking away and working together to set fast times across 4 time-sections of the 60km ride, based on the actual course of the “in-person” event taking place on March 21st in San Antonio, Florida.
Riders from all over the world including America, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany lined up at the virtual start and nearly 500 riders completed the virtual course.
Gran Fondo Guide took part in the bonus event at 4PM UK time. We had an absolute blast riding the course and watching the race take shape. The course wasn’t exactly flat with some difficult climbing and fast descents.
RGT cycling’s realistic platform allowed cyclists to work together in groups using realistic drafting that enabled groups to switch around taking a share of the work at the front of group. It provided a real racing experience that you would find in a real race!
Riders are able to ride and chat with other cyclists in real-time allowing for race strategy and group riding to form.
The 60 km e-Fondo Florida course contained 4 time-sections where the fastest combined time takes victory. Overall Joeri Dlnr was the fastest male, completing the timed sections in a time of 40m 10s ahead of Mathieu Drujon and Mads Schnoor.
For the women, Kalixar Alixar was the fastest in a time of 41m 03s ahead of Caroline Reuter and Jasmijn Muller. There were numerous winners across multiple age categories, five for women up to 65 years old and six for men up to 65 years old.
Link to e-Fondo Florida results - https://my.raceresult.com/165349/#
VIDEO: Race Recap with Brad Sohner
An additional 4th race-time has also been added for E-Fondo Georgia event on February 11th. The complete schedule, including start times, are available on the GFNS website
The Colnago Gran Fondo National Series 9-event E-Fondo Series is the first e-sports cycling competition to feature timed segments, the series leverages RGT Cycling’s innovative “Magic Roads” to recreate GFNS’s real-world courses in a virtual environment.
The E-Fondo Series runs from February 7, 2021 through March 7, 2021 with multiple opportunities for riders to compete on each course, and the opportunity to qualify for the 2021 USA Cycling Gran Fondo National Championship event in Asheville, North Carolina on July 18, 2021.
The schedule of events offers both weekday and weekend opportunities for riders to complete events. On each event date there will be three separate start times, so riders can select a time of day that works for them.
- E-Fondo Florida – Sunday, February 7
- E-Fondo Georgia – Thursday, February 11
- Highlands E-Fondo – Sunday, February 14
- E-Fondo Asheville – Tuesday, February 16
- Boone E-Fondo – Thursday, February 18
- E-Fondo Golden – Sunday, February 21
- E-Fondo Maryland – Tuesday, February 23
- Jensie E-Fondo – Sunday, February 28
- E-Series Championship (Asheville course) – Sunday, March 7
The complete schedule, including start times, are available on the GFNS website. The E-Fondo Series is being run in addition to the full calendar of Colnago GFNS outdoor events.
Registration, Awards and Prizes!
E-Fondo Series events are free to enter. Riders who register for and compete in the GFNS E-Fondo Series are eligible to earn age group and overall podium awards for individual events as well for the Championship. Riders will also be automatically entered in GFNS Prize Raffles for chances to win products from series sponsors. There will be separate prize raffles for each event, so the more events riders enter, the more chances they have to win.
Participants will have the chance to win!
- Hyperice HyperVolt percussion massage device - $350 value
- Hyperice Vyper vibrating fitness roller - $200 value
- Hyperice Normatec Pulse compression boots - $1000 value (Championship event raffle only)
- Garda Bike Hotel: 3-night stay at Garda Bike Hotel in Italy
Colnago Gran Fondo National Series (GFNS) Event Director, Reuben Kline, chose to create the first E-Fondo Series with RGT because of the simulator’s focus on realistic rider dynamics. He added, “We wanted the indoor and outdoor experiences on GFNS courses to be as similar as possible, and realistic in-game physics is what RGT does best. They were also excited to integrate our timed-section competition format, complete with on-screen graphics and tracking rider results over multiple events.”
Riders can register for E-Fondo Series events for free.
Riders can register today for a free RGT account and get your legs ready to ride before the series begins.