After a series of online qualification races on ROUVY, the grand finale of La Vuelta Virtual 2022 was held in Madrid, Spain, on September 11th.
Ward Simons, a pharmacist from Belgium, secured victory at La Vuelta Virtual 2022 at the in-person Grand Final. He managed to beat nine other competitors on the stage placed in the centre of Madrid near Plaza de la Lealtad.
Having established a multi-year official partnership with La Vuelta, ROUVY organized this year’s digital edition of the Spanish tour. The virtual event was launched in July with a weekend warm-up racing series, enabling its winners to have a VIP visit to Spain for the read-world Vuelta in September.
The virtual event took place from August 19 to September 11 alongside the real-world Vuelta:
- 15 racing days, 60 races and 3 Group Rides with participating pros from Equipo Kern Pharma
- 10 finalists from 6 countries
- Almost 7,000 registered riders from 73 countries
- 1 million kms ridden on LV routes
- Grand Final race – 396 registered riders
- Stage 21 race day – 862 registered riders
Grand Final in Madrid
10 riders were selected in the open international races to be present in person and compete next to former MTB World Champion and Olympian, José Hermida and popular UK cycling blogger, Cameron Jeffers.
The contenders came from six countries – Great Britain, Spain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Belgium and Sweden. They all had the same equipment – a Zycle Smart ZBike and the ROUVY app with the shorter 25km version of the last stage, stage 21 of La Vuelta 2022.
Ward Simons (Belgium) demonstrated an impressive high and stable wattage and ended up with a 387W average (5.3 w/kg), which gave him the win. He stepped on the podium alongside Daniel Pink (UK) and Andrew Emmerich (Sweden), where he received the winner’s trophy.
After enjoying drinks and food in the VIP section where everyone could watch the final 21st stage of La Vuelta with other riders, there was a surprise for Simons. When Remco Evenepoel confirmed his maiden Grand Tour title at La Vuelta and stood on the main stage, Ward Simons was invited to stand on the same stage alongside Remco (also a Belgian) and celebrate the win together.
www.lavuelta.es
www.rouvy.com
www.zycle.eu
