In the build-up to this year's UCI Road World Championships, RGT Cycling has announced its latest virtual road offering in a new partnership between Deloitte and the City of Leuven: Leuven City, Flanders.
The indoor cycling segment continues to experience massive growth and RGT Cycling, like Zwift, is capitalising on this new cycling discipline. With an abundance of textured cycling heritage to interpret and draw inspiration from, graphic designers and programmers at RGT set about to create a stunning 15.4km virtual road, through the iconic venue. Design and user experience notes made during RGT’s project with its 'De Ronde' road, built in partnership with the Tour of Flanders organisers Flanders Classics, helped create the foundation for this new addition.
Owing to De Ronde road's popularity among RGT users since its launch in April, adding route options around Leuven was the logical evolution - especially given the rise in popularity of the best turbo trainers and winter fast approaching for the northern hemisphere.
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(Image credit: RGT)
Leuven City in exquisite detail
Riders won’t be disappointed with the new RGT virtual ride. It includes the testing Keizersberg, Decouxlaan, Wijnpers and Sint-Antoniusberg climbs. Total elevation totals 136m and a sprint finish will see riders cross the line on the classic Geldenaaksevest, near Sint-Antoniusberg church.
Creating the City of Leuven route challenged developers. Wanting to provide nothing less than a recognisable authentic experience of the city, RGT’s staff shaped 2500 buildings, including some of Leuven’s most iconic sites. These include City Hall of Leuven, the historic Leuven City Library, Saint Peter's Church and even the old Stella Artois brewery.
RGT Cycling’s James Vickers is forthright about the scale of this latest RGT virtual build. “We’re incredibly excited to finally open our latest road, Leuven City, Flanders. This has been a long time in the making, with our team of highly talented developers pushing the boundaries of what was previously possible, all in the name of providing the most captivating indoor cycling experiences.”
Want to ride it? The new Leuven City route has opened as part of the Flat Out Flanders Series, a sequence of events that includes time trials, road races and hill climbs starts, with prizes provided by Wahoo.
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Lance Branquinho is a Namibian born media professional, with 15-years of experience in technology and engineering journalism covering anything with wheels. Being from Namibia, he knows a good gravel road when he sees one, and he has raced some of Africa’s best-known mountain bike stage races, such as Wines2Wales and Berg&Bush.
