Andy Tennant gets on his esports bike
Wolverhampton cycling ace Andy Tennant was part of a star-studded cast in yesterday’s inaugural esports world championships.
The 31-year-old former world track champion was one quarter of the four-man British team in the event, which saw riders do battle for a title without leaving their homes.
Every rider in the 78-strong men’s and 54-strong women’s field competed on indoor trainers around a 50km course around the fictional island of Watopia.
“It’s a mixture between real life and Mario Kart,” said Tennant, speaking before the race began.
“In terms of power you are trying just as hard as on the road, if not harder. Time also seems to go very slowly whenever you are on a turbo trainer.”
Tennant was joined in the British team by Ed Clancy, Tom Pidcock and Max Stedman, while other notable names included the Belgian pair Victor Campenaerts and Thomas De Gendt and Colombian duo Esteban Chaves and Rigoberto Urán.
But they were all left trailing by German rower Jason Osborne, who claimed the 8,000 euro prize money and inaugural rainbow jersey in a sprint finish.
The 26-year-old, a rowing world champion in 2018, was racing from the German rowers’ training camp in Portugal.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman Pasio won the women’s event.
