2025 Esports World Championships: Germany’s Jason Osborne claims back-to-back world titles

Germany’s Jason Osborne won back-to-back elite men’s titles at the 2025 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, leading from start to finish, though he faced hard-charging competitors in the race held live in Abu Dhabi.

Michal Kaminski (Poland) surged in the third and final stage to claim the silver medal, while Lennert Teugels (Belgium) took the bronze medal.

“To be honest, I wasn’t that happy with stage 1, because I saw the gap was not …like it was in the semis, and I wasn’t feeling that great, so I was mentally a little bit hit, let’s say,” said Osborne, who dominated in the opening stage to win the semi-finals.

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“But then in stage 2, I really felt the system was activated, and could really push on and dig deep. And then progressively, each stage, it got actually better. And stage 3, I was back to my old self, and then went off the front, and did some good teamwork with Lionel [Vulasi] out there.”

Osborne finished with 564 points, 71 points ahead of second-place Kaminski. Teugels garnered 468 points for third place. Norway’s Njål Pedersen and Denmark’s Bjørn Barreby Andreassen finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

How it unfolded

The 2025 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships finale unfolded across three distinct stages, each crafted to challenge every dimension of a rider’s power, strategy, and endurance.

The competition opened with Mountain’s Verdict, a punishing uphill test, followed by Puncher’s Playground, a dynamic course blending sprint and climb segments. It all concluded with Sprinter’s Paradise, an eight-lap battle around a fast 1.5 km criterium circuit.

Twenty-two finalists raced shoulder to shoulder in a live arena in Abu Dhabi, competing on the MyWhoosh platform.

The championships employed a points-based scoring format, with all riders starting at zero. The strategy revolved around getting the right balance between scoring aggressively and managing recovery across the three stages.

USA’s Hayden Pucker put in the first attack in the Mountain’s Verdict over the 8km course with gradients increasing up to 20% but was soon caught by the group. In this stage, riders earn points for every five seconds they remain ahead of the chase line, with points scoring starting two minutes after the race begins.

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15 riders were still in contention after 10 minutes of racing as Osborne put in an attack while the chase line mowed down the first rider, Mathias Vanhee (Belgium), to be eliminated. Poland’s Pawel Scierski and Belgium’s Teugels took on the chase as more riders were caught until finally Osborne was the final rider to be caught after 17 minutes of racing.

After stage 1, Osborne nabbed 221 points, and Scierski was a close second with 206 points and Teugels with 199 points.

Osborne came under pressure in stage 2, briefly losing his spot at the top of the leaderboard on a 12km rolling circuit marked by sharp climbs and fast descents. Points were awarded across two sprints and two climb checkpoints, with additional points available at the finish line.

Daniel Turek (Czech Republic) launched the first major move, claiming 40 points at the opening sprint checkpoint. Osborne then countered an attack from Bjørn Barreby Andreassen (Denmark) to secure the second checkpoint on an uphill section. Njål Pedersen (Norway) struck next with a long-range effort to take the third checkpoint, while Scierski surged past Osborne to temporarily move into the lead.

But Osborne responded with a solo attack to claim the points at the finish, and with them, the overall lead once again.

After stage 2, Osborne sat on top of the leaderboard with 389 points, a 13-point lead on Scierski. Teugels remained in third with 363 points.

Osborne went on the offensive in stage 3, held over eight laps of a fast, flat 1.5km circuit with points awarded at the end of every lap and double points on the final crossing.

He and Lionel Vujasin (Belgium) broke away on the fourth lap, duelling for the 20 points available at each checkpoint as the defending champion extended his overall lead. Behind them, Kaminski (Poland) surged while Scierski faded, slipping down the standings.

Results