New Zealand’s Mary Kate Mccarthy arrived in Abu Dhabi ahead of the World Championships with a point to prove.
After winning in the second round of the Zwift World Series in early October, Mccarthy’s authenticity was brought into question. The ensuing communique from the race commissaire annulled her result for a ‘hardware malfunction.’
The rules state that “Riders shall be responsible for maintaining the accuracy of their equipment, including but not limited to conducting a zeroing or other calibration or offset procedure for power meters and/or smart trainers immediately prior to an event.”
In Mccarthy’s case, the malfunction led to “a material difference between the trainer and power meter for the duration of the race.”
Speaking after her World Championship win, Mccarthy said: “I think I had a point to prove this week after a few things that were out of my control. But you know, we came into this with full focus on this.”
According to results on Zwiftapp.com, the New Zealand native has podiumed each of her four previous races. With the world championships title added in, she’s won each of her past four starts.
She went on to explain that “the racing outside of this has sort of been part of the training, so I just thought, well, it was good training and it just set me up with confidence to come into this race. I just had to block that out and just focus on today.”
In the lead-up to Saturday’s cycling esports world championships, every part of the athletes’ technical preparations have been either entirely out of the athletes’ control, or closely scrutinised by either MyWhoosh and/or the UCI.
In the case of power meter and smart trainer calibration, this was undertaken exclusively by representatives of the event organisers.
According to the UCI’s Esport Coordinator, Jacob Fraser, each of the race’s 22 Elite Justo smart trainers underwent “more stringent hardware testing than has ever been done for any sports world championship.”
On top of this, all 20 of the women’s bikes and 22 of the men’s bikes were handed over to the UCI 24 hours before the race. They were then set up in the arena, paired with the necessary computers, calibrated, and run through two dress rehearsals prior to the race.
Throughout the race, Mccarthy posted the fastest sprint time for maximum points in the first stage. She then crested the climb of stage 2 with eventual silver medallist Gabirela Guerra, with the pair staying away down the descent to share the double-point haul at the finish line.
On stage three, Mccarthy won the final sprint to eke out a slender lead over Guerra, eventually finishing on 180 points, just four ahead of the Brazilian, with Swiss Kathrin Fuhrer in third.
