'It felt like, I wouldn't say slavery, but like they were in too much control' - Jason Osborne speaks out over exit from Alpecin-Deceuninck

The stoic German stood on the live final stage with a $15,000 cheque hoisted above his head, resplendent in the freshly unfurled rainbow jersey. His grim countenance failed to convey the celebratory magnitude of the moment. He barely cracked a smile.

It might have been old hat for the accomplished endurance athlete who won a silver medal as a rower at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before winning the first-ever Cycling Esports World Championship later that year.  

Osborne has competed in every event edition, finishing on the podium each time, and winning twice. 

"Today, it showed me that it was absolutely the right decision," Osborne sternly stated in the post-race press conference. "I don’t want to say I hated my time in the WorldTour. It was a great experience, but it was time to move on to what I enjoyed most. And that is ecycling. Despite all the suffering, I still enjoy the competition."

His esports world title win in 2020 landed him a contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck in 2021, and despite some promising results, he never could crack the strict hierarchal structure of the team.

"I had some good races," the German explained. "I also had some success here and there, but in the end, I didn't find the joy."

Osborne announced the decision to step away on September 16th openly on Instagram, citing that his love for road racing wasn't what it used to be, and revealed his plans to pursue a career in cycling esports and gravel. 

“We at Alpecin-Deceuninck wish Jason every success in his future life, whatever that may bring. The respect is mutual,” confirmed the team, though it's uncertain if Osborne’s true feelings ever factored into the respectful parting of ways.

In a candid moment on a recent episode of the Virtual Velo Podcast a few days before his world championship win, Osborne shared the deep introspection that led to the life-changing move, exposing a side of himself rarely seen by fans or fellow riders in the pro peloton.

"I wanted to gain control over my life again. I was just in that spiral of not enjoying it anymore and wanted to get out. Since I made the decision, I've been a way happier person. I feel I regained my life. It was definitely the right decision."

Osborne expanded on the loss of life balance that stole the joy of riding and control of his happiness. 

"You have to jump whenever they want you to. It always felt like, I wouldn't say slavery, but like they were in too much control." 

A career in eCycling?

Elite-level cycling esports is now viewed as a viable pathway to the professional ranks. 

The Zwift Academy has produced top-tier pros, such as Jay Vine and Neve Bradbury, while UAE Team Emirates offered Kiwi Michael Vink a contract in 2022 after a string of wins in MyWhoosh's Sunday Race Club. 

Founded in 2019, MyWhoosh has become known for hosting big-money events and attracting the sport's top talent. In April 2023, the MyWhoosh Championship series saw the largest payout in cycling esports history, at $1 Million, lighting the path to professional cycling esports.

The weekly Sunday Race Club series boasts a monthly prize purse of over $284,000 spread across four categories. 

This might explain Osborne's intense, all-business focus following the world title win, because the following day, he was back on the virtual road and he again outclassed the competition, claiming victory from his Abu Dhabi hotel room.

The win pocketed him over $6,000 to add to the $15,000 world title haul. 

Tadej Pogačar, who would have been in the audience to witness Osborne’s lucrative campaign had he not left early received around $8,500 of prize money for his world title win earlier in the same month, though the lucrative contract extension he signed just weeks later would have more than offset the deficit. 

The silver and bronze medalists were also rewarded far more generously than their road race counterparts. Gabriela Guerra (Brazil) and Lionel Vujasin (Belgium) each took home $10,000 for their second-place finishes, while Kathrin Fuhrer (Switzerland) and Kasper Borremans (Finland) earned $5,000 each for third place. 

In comparison, the silver and bronze medalists at the road race in Zurich received just $4,320 and $2,160, less than half of what was awarded in esports.

A $21,000 haul isn't bad for a weekend of racing indoors on a turbo for Osborne, but how does it compare to his WorldTour salary?

The salary of a professional road cyclist varies significantly depending on their performance and competitive category. For ProTeam racers, the sport's second division, the base minimum salary is approximately 34,000 euros annually for men and 29,000 for women. A WorldTour racer's base minimum is 42,000 euros for men and 35,000 for women, but top riders can earn significantly more, alongside a share of prize purses and any personal sponsorship deals they can strike.

"It's at a point where it's not worth it. It's not worth the risk of crashing," Osborne explained. "I didn't like it when you got a call, 'Can you please do this race now?' and you'd just planned to go somewhere on a trip or whatever, and they call and say, 'We need you here.'"

The financial potential in this new era of esports, coupled with a better cycling-life balance, helped Osborne’s unconventional choice to leave the WorldTour and make swimming against the usual esports-to-road tide a viable path.

He joins the growing list of elite cycling esports racers who have left their careers behind - be that in professional cycling or otherwise - to put all of their chips to the centre of the cycling esports table.

New Zealander Ollie Jones, who competed alongside Osborne on the live event World Championship stage on October 26th, was an early adopter of cycling esports after competing on the International level in in-line skating. He had success on the road after winning the Zwift Academy in 2018, but he never forgot his roots in esports.

He transitioned from road racing when sponsorship for his Bolton Equities Black Spoke team dried up. 

Lionel Vujasin is another to pursue cycling esports full-time. He stood alongside Osborne on the World Championship podium, securing the silver for Belgium, and had previously left his job as operations manager at Nike.

Athletes such as Jones, Vujasin, and their teammate Michal Kaminski, who represented Poland in the Worlds, are estimated to pull in around $7,500 a month - or close to $100,000 a year - racing virtually on multiple platforms, predominantly MyWhoosh. 

Many women racing on the platform reap similar financial benefits, including the Women's World Championship bronze medalist, Switzerland's Kathrin Fuhrer.

The Zwift Games, an elite-level competition featuring Sprint, Epic, and Climb stages, offered $110,000 in a prize purse equally distributed between the men’s and women’s fields. With $7,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place, and $3,000 for third place in each championship, racers stood to win more than their real-world counterparts do in many major events.

Polish cycling esports racer Kaminski won a Sunday Race Club event and the 2024 Zwift Games Sprint Championship in a single week, netting him nearly $12,000. The stories of cycling esports' financial success are spreading.

Is it paving the way for the professionalisation of cycling esports? Much depends on how you define a professional athlete and sport. Or whether large cash payouts are enough to attract top-tier talent, drive innovation, facilitate a compelling and entertaining viewership product, and provide the host of other factors required to sustain the sport’s evolution. Money doesn’t answer these questions. 

Regardless, Osborne, Vujasin, and Jones are making a living racing virtually and almost exclusively on MyWhoosh. The full-time dedication to cycling esports raises the bar for racers at the top end of the sport, and, with the financial infusion, has moved the sport closer to professionalism than ever before.

And for some, it's a way to rediscover the joy of racing.