FloSports’ Industry-Leading FloBikes Platform Scheduled To Stream ‘The Digital Swiss 5’ For Five Consecutive Days From April 22 – 26
Five One-Hour Broadcasts To Include Sixteen WorldTour Teams, Two ProContinental Teams and the Swiss National Team Competing
AUSTIN, Texas (April 20, 2020) – FloSports, the innovator in live digital sports and original content, today announced 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.”
“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 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.
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
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 AM Eastern/10 AM Central 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 AM Eastern/7 AM Central)
To access live and on-demand coverage of these cycling events, visit FloBikes to become an annual PRO subscriber. The annual subscription unlocks access to premium content and live events across the entire FloSports network. Watch the events across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, the App Store, and Google Play Store.
For more information, visit FloBikes or FloSports.tv.
About FloSports
Founded in 2006, FloSports is a venture-backed subscription video streaming service dedicated to sports, offering live and on-demand access to hundreds of thousands of competition events across 25+ vertical sport categories in the US and abroad. FloSports’ mission is to give underserved sports the love they deserve. With a growing library of more than 300,000 hours of premium content including news, expert commentary, films, documentaries and more, FloSports has established itself as an innovator and leader in sports streaming. Finally, your sport has a home. For more information, please visit: flosports.tv.