Challenge of the Stars pits world’s best sprinters and climbers in tournament bracket

The first-ever Challenge of the Stars, on May 23rd and 24th, on the BKOOL virtual cycling environment will pit grand tour winners, world champions, climbers and sprinters against each other in a 2-up elimination format.

Competing on Italian courses that mimic the Stelvio and Tucson countryside, the startlist has all the firepower of a grand tour.

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome said, “At a time like this when we are unable to race it’s great to be able to use technology to put on an event like The Challenge of Stars and bring entertainment to the cycling fans. I’m looking forward to taking on this new type of challenge against some of the top riders in the sport.”

The sprinters will race a 1.2km course with an average gradient of 0.97 percent and a maximum of 2.53 percent, while the climbers will face a 2.9km ascent with an average gradient of 8.69 percent that peaks at 12.75 percent.

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Jakob Fuglsang commented, “Certainly given the current situation, with many races that have been canceled or moved, indoor cycling is an excellent alternative to training while waiting to return to competing outdoors. We look forward to being able to ride the races that have been placed on the new international calendar, and in the meantime it is nice to be able to taste a little competition and race other pros virtually, as with The Challenge of the Stars.”

The Challenge of Stars will be broadcast internationally on VRT Sporza.

Challenge of the Stars startlist

Team Ineos
Chris Froome
Filippo Ganna

Trek-Segafredo
Vincenzo Nibali
Giulio Ciccone
Mads Pedersen

Astana Pro Team
Jakob Fuglsang

CCC Team
Matteo Trentin
Simon Geschke

Alpecin-Fenix
Tim Merlier

BORA-Hansgrohe
Pascal Ackermann
Rafał Majka

Arkéa–Samsic
Warren Barguil

Team Arkéa Samsic
Nacer Bouhanni

Deceuninck – Quick Step
Fabio Jakobsen

Lotto Soudal
Caleb Ewan
Thomas De Gendt