SEG Racing Academy, one of the leading U23 programmes in the world, has taken the decision to move their entire roster online as they rebrand as SEG eRacing Academy until further notice. The move comes after racing was put on hold all over the world owing to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dutch squad has produced a number of talented riders in recent years, including Fabio Jakobsen, Alberto Dainese, Edoardo Affini, Nick Schultz, Cees Bol, Stephen Williams and Alberto Dainese.
A number of WorldTour teams have already made steps towards eSports racing due to coronavirus with Mitchelton-Scott organsing a number of events and rides earlier this month. Last week, Velon squads announced their plans for an online race series.
SEG eRacing Academy are the first U23 squad to rebrand.
"We want to announce that for the time being the Academy will be renamed to SEG eRacing Academy as a part of a program that will centered in resuming our racing activity via virtual cycling platforms," read a statement from the team.
"At the same time, our talents will be provided with detailed webinar sessions featuring interviews, talks and masterclasses from our performance staff, Alumni riders and some of the biggest names in the sport," the team announced in a statement.
"This way, the SEG eRacing Academy, strives to keep on developing and educating the riders through a unique and alternative calendar in which we aim to keep the same momentum that brought us to take a total of four wins in our first six races of the season.
"The SEG eRacing Academy calendar will kick off tomorrow with fifth stage of the Tour de Zwift and will be followed by another race on Sunday. Also, during the month of April our talents will take part in the Zwift Classics series."
The squad currently boast 12 riders and their first race took place on Saturday with the team earning their first online win through Thymen Arensman, who will move to Team Sunweb later this year.
"With everything that is going on in the world at the moment, we want to put our part and encourage everyone to follow the rules and, in the case of cyclists, to either ride solo or train at home," said Aike Visbeek the team’s directeur sportif.
"That’s why we had to be creative as our goal is to keep on developing the riders and educating them for the next step. We are really excited about this new part of the team and it’s clear that our eRacing program is here to stay!"
