Professional cycling will take a step into the future with the launch of a new platform called Road Code, which is built on Web3 technology and will give fans, teams and riders a place to come together in a single community.
Road Code is being developed in a partnership between Velon, the company owned by the world’s top cycling teams, and The HBAR Foundation. Together, they are delivering the first fan universe in pro cycling, built on the Hedera public network.
Unlike today’s centralised social media channels, Road Code is the next generation of platform, offering fans ownership via the representation of in-game assets, digital collectibles and team access tokens, all stored securely in a personal digital vault.
Content is at the heart of the Road Code platform, which is set for a first phase launch for the start of the 2023 season. Teams and riders will be delivering all access content to take fans behind the scenes and through the ups and downs of their lives at races and beyond.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the fans brought closer to the action and the teams on this unique platform”
Velon’s proprietary live data system will be integrated with Road Code, delivering new insights into how fast and how hard teams and riders are performing in races. The platform will be the new home for the ever-popular on-bike footage which Velon has pioneered over the past seven years.
Road Code will also contain a new and unique rider ranking system based not on what the riders won but on who they beat. The new system will open the sport to fans in new ways - showing them the team and riders’ rankings for sprints, climbs, one day and Grand Tour racing. In time, amateur riders will be able to make direct comparisons between their performances and the elite.
Gaming will be part of Road Code, starting with a Fantasy Game complete with assets which fans can own and trade.
Graham Bartlett, CEO, Velon, said: “Our mission is to create a first-of-its-kind platform that grants access to the most relevant and exciting cycling content for fans and sports lovers around the world. Road Code’s mission is to bring the best from the teams to the fans by creating a new community the fans can truly be part of. We want to invite everyone to participate in building the digital cycling universe of the future.”
The Hedera network [native token: $HBAR] is dedicated to having a limited carbon footprint and has adopted environmental sustainability as a core value - officially committing to carbon-negative network operations.
Road Code is being built by Reality+ gaming studio, the Web3 developer partner, & Immortal Projects, a Danish venture studio who are building on the Hedera ecosystem and supported by The HBAR Foundation.
Team quotes
Ralph Denk, Team Manager, BORA-hansgrohe: “For teams, our fans are essential and we have been working for a long time on a solution where we can offer real added value for fans. Until now, there have been fragmented offerings with isolated solutions. However, with Road Code, we have managed to create a virtual arena that makes teams' content centrally accessible. I think it will create an entirely new means of interaction between fans and teams, and I am sure that Road Code will enrich cycling significantly.”
Sam Bennett, Rider, BORA-hansgrohe: “The community of road cycling fans is a great one and I hope that they’ll be very happy with Road Code giving them a new place to enjoy the racing. I’m looking forward to seeing the fans brought closer to the action and the teams on this unique platform.”
Rod Ellingworth, Deputy Team Principal, INEOS Grenadiers: “Road Code will bring cycling fans closer to the teams, the riders and the action than ever before. By centralising the teams’ content on Road Code and building an engaging and interactive user experience, we’ll be better able to tell our stories to new fans as well – and really bring to life all the drama and excitement of our fantastic sport.”
Maxime Segers, Chief Operating Officer, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert: “Our sport needs such a platform to grow worldwide. Thanks to Road Code, all cycling fans will be able to enjoy a new experience. Fans will all be committed to our sport, thanks to creative and exclusive insights into professional cycling. Road Code is a first important step in uniting and modernising the cycling world to offer fans one universe with content, gaming and entertainment, allowing them to approach their heroes in a modern way.”
Yana Seel, Chief Business Officer, Lotto Soudal: “Together, we have been working on the creation of Road Code for a long time. To be able to bring everything cycling has to offer together in one place, is a crucial next step for us as cycling community, Velon and our team. The sport needs these kinds of initiatives to continue to grow. This offers huge new opportunities for our fans, our sponsors and our team.”
Iwan Spekenbrink, CEO, Team DSM: “Road Code is something that we have been working on as a Velon team for a while and we are happy to bring this new offering to life. It will be a place to bring all our content in the sport together and empower fans to become stakeholders of cycling in a new way. We hope that it will create a sense of togetherness and partnership between us as a team and our riders, with fans of cycling throughout the globe, with the ultimate aim of further growing the sport through the essence of community.”
Romain Bardet, Rider, Team DSM: “Cycling fans are some of the most passionate in the world and the idea of giving them a new place for racing and content adds on an already great community feeling. It’s cool that simply by engaging on Road Code, fans contribute and can earn access to exclusive assets, prizes and offers.”
Luca Guercilena, General Manager, Trek-Segafredo: “Fan engagement is at the heart of professional cycling and we are hoping that with the launch of Road Code we can take this engagement to the next level. The platform will allow fans to become closer to the teams and the sport, and we hope this leads to positive growth for professional cycling.”
Media contacts
Velon: Graham Bartlett, CEO | +44 (0) 7714 780810 | graham.bartlett@velon.cc
Immortal Projects ApS: Philip Mostert, CMO | phmo@immortalprojects.io
About Velon
Velon is owned by: BORA-hansgrohe, EF Education-EasyPost, INEOS Grenadiers, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert, Lotto Soudal, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, Team DSM, Team Jumbo-Visma, Trek-Segafredo, UAE Team Emirates.
About Hedera
The Hedera network is the most innovative, sustainable, enterprise-grade public ledger for the decentralized economy. The platform is governed by a globally diverse council of industry leading organizations, including abrdn, Avery Dennison, Boeing, Chainlink Labs, Dentons, Deutsche Telekom, DLA Piper, EDF (Électricité de France), eftpos, FIS (WorldPay), Google, IBM, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), LG Electronics, Magalu, Nomura Holdings, ServiceNow, Shinhan Bank, Standard Bank Group, Swirlds, Tata Communications, Ubisoft, University College London (UCL), Wipro, and Zain Group.
For more information, visit www.hedera.com, or follow us on Twitter at @hedera, Telegram att.me/hederahashgraph, or Discord at www.hedera.com/discord. The Hedera whitepaper can be found at www.hedera.com/papers
About The HBAR Foundation
The HBAR Foundation supports the creation of Web3 communities built on the Hedera network, by empowering and funding the builders developing these communities. The Foundation’s six funds - focused on the Crypto Economy, Metaverse, Sustainability, Fintech, Privacy, and Female Founders - each support communities within those areas, and the interconnectedness enables applications to participate as part of a larger ecosystem. The collective power of these funds enables entrepreneurs, developers, and enterprises of all sizes to tackle some of the world’s largest problems, and create and control their own economies, all built on the Hedera public network. Whether you’re building something new or migrating an existing EVM-based application and community, the HBAR Foundation is here to support you. For additional information, please visit https://hbarfoundation.org.
About Reality+
Reality+ helps worldwide brands transition to Web3 with bespoke product, community and development strategies backed by an award-winning technology platform. From metaverse integration to generative collectibles, video games and beyond, Reality+ are pioneers in the space and leading the conversation in the blockchain industry. We’re creating innovative and successful products and revenue streams for the world’s biggest media brands (BBC Studios, ITV Studios) with sustainability, creativity, and utility at the forefront. We work with partners around the world to help them not only build Web3 applications and campaigns but become true leaders and innovators in the digital economy of the future.
Immortal ApS
Pioneering the use of blockchain and hashgraph technology, Immortal creates sustainable, digital ecosystems that entertain and educate. Working with, among others, Chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen, June Art Fair and Tattoodo. Immortal utilizes cutting-edge technology to bring some of the world’s leading brands into Web3 and the metaverse.