FloSports Readies for North American Broadcast of New Tour de Suisse Virtual Cycling Series

FloSports is entering an exclusive North American broadcast for an all-new virtual cycling series from the organizers of the Tour de Suisse – The Digital Swiss 5. Cycling Unlimited, Velon, and virtual cycling platform, ROUVY organized ‘The Digital Swiss 5’ in an effort to bring exciting cycling competition back to fans worldwide who remain under stay at home orders resulting from COVID-19. ‘The Digital Swiss 5’ is a series of one-hour cycling races scheduled to run over five consecutive days from April 22 through April 26. FloSports’ industry-leading cycling OTT platform, FloBikes, will broadcast the series exclusively to both the United States and Canada.

“The teams and riders are delighted to partner with FloBikes so that The Digital Swiss 5 races can be seen in the USA and Canada,” says Graham Bartlett, CEO, Velon. “Everyone is looking forward to racing of a different kind, but viewers can be certain that the riders won’t be holding anything back because every single one of them wants to win.”

The world’s top professional cyclists will participate with 19 premier teams set to compete. The riders, three per team, will be represented by avatars dressed in their team uniforms and riding their familiar team bikes. Each team’s line-up can change from race to race to reflect the different routes. Each race will take place using real video footage of roads from the actual Tour de Suisse route including incredible video from the Swiss mountains and countryside.

“We’re excited to work with the Velon team along with everyone at Cycling Unlimited and ROUVY on this unique event,” says Ryan Fenton, Director, Rights Acquisition, FloSports. “Cycling fans will enjoy seeing their favorite riders compete again and this will be a completely new experience for them.”

The riders’ bikes will be connected to “smart trainers,” which have surged in popularity as the COVID-19 virus has forced millions of people to stay at home. The trainers link up with the ROUVY platform allowing riders to watch the course and their position on their monitor in real-time. As the profile of the course goes uphill and downhill, the smart trainer automatically applies more or less resistance to the pedals. Throughout the races, the riders’ data – speed, power, and cadence – will be on display.

With riders spread out across the world and most only able to ride on their home trainers, teams have responded enthusiastically to the challenge presented by ‘The Digital Swiss 5’ races. Sixteen WorldTour and two ProContinental teams along with the Swiss national team have signed up for the series. A complete list of competing teams is below.

Participating teams include:

• AG2R La Mondiale
• Bahrain-McLaren
• BORA-hansgrohe
• CCC Team
• Deceuninck – Quick-Step Team
• EF Pro Cycling
• Groupama-FDJ
• Israel Start-Up Nation
• Lotto Soudal
• Mitchelton-SCOTT
• Movistar Team
• NTT Pro Cycling
• Rally Cycling
• Team INEOS
• Team Jumbo-Visma
• Team Sunweb
• Total Direct Energie
• Trek-Segafredo
• Swiss National Team

The daily Digital Swiss 5 broadcast schedule is below. All races begin at 11 a.m. ET, unless otherwise noted:

• Race 1: Wednesday, April 22
• Race 2: Thursday, April 23
• Race 3: Friday, April 24
• Race 4: Saturday, April 25
• Race 5: Sunday, April 26 (starts at 8 a.m. ET)