Discovery and AWS to develop on-screen and digital experiences for UCI Track Champions League

Discovery Sports Events and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are to jointly develop immersive on-screen and digital fan-engagement experiences for the new Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Track Champions League series after signing a partnership agreement.

The deal sees AWS become Official Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning Provider for Discovery Sports Events and the exclusive Cloud Infrastructure Partner of the UCI Track Champions League.

The collaboration will result in the creation of a new UCI Track Champions League app and the generation of competition insights, data, analysis and in-race statistics – both on-screen and in-venue – to help existing cycling fans dive deeper into race strategy and attract additional followers to the sport.

François Ribeiro, head of Discovery Sports Events, discussing the tie-up, said: “We know the UCI Track Champions League offers an outstanding opportunity to better serve cycling’s global fan community and bring in a new audience to the sport. A big part of achieving this is to build an on-screen and digital experience that visually represents the strategy and strength riders require to compete and win, as well as help viewers understand the second-by-second action that determines race results.

“AWS will help deliver the resources behind this experience and provide fans the type of real-time insights and engagement that will make them care more about the sport and keep them engaged for the long term.”

“Imagine fans being able to see things like predictive insights and their favourite riders’ bike speeds, race positions, pedal cadences, and even biometrics all from a connected app on their phones.”

Along with providing real-time data into riders’ performance and race statistics, Discovery Sports Events will use Amazon SageMaker – a service that helps developers and data scientists build, train, and deploy machine learning models quickly – to develop predictive insights into race and championship outcomes to drive further excitement around each event.

To enhance race viewing experiences for audiences around the world, Discovery Sports Events will use Amazon Kinesis – a service for easily collecting, processing, and analyzing video and data streams in real-time – to ingest and process live, streaming data from sensors on the track, bikes, and riders.

Then, AWS analytics and machine learning capabilities will be applied to serve up stats such as bike speed, race position, pedal cadence, rider power output in watts, timekeeping, and racer biometrics.

Discovery Sports Events will use AWS media services to provide the stats to fans through the app and broadcast in what they describe as a “simple and compelling format.”

Kathrin Buvac, VP of business development for Amazon Web Services added: “AWS and Discovery Sports Events will help UCI redefine and innovate track cycling by providing fans with a more connected experience with real-time data into riders’ performances and race statistics.

“Imagine fans being able to see things like predictive insights and their favourite riders’ bike speeds, race positions, pedal cadences, and even biometrics all from a connected app on their phones. This is how AWS brings fans closer to their favourite sports, and we can’t wait to see the excitement blossom for cycling.”

The UCI Track Champions League has been designed to reinvent track cycling creating an innovative new format to engage fans globally. The best riders will qualify from the UCI Track World Championships to compete across six rounds to determine who is the world’s best sprint and endurance riders. Every race matters in the UCI Track Champions League as riders will have to fight for every point to ensure they are at the top of the league table at the end of the season.

The race format will be simplified to include the fastest and most exciting disciplines: Sprint and Keirin for the Sprint Championship and Elimination and Scratch for the Endurance Championship. The action will unfold across a fast-paced 2-hour race programme scheduled in primetime Saturday evening across six consecutive weekends.

The inaugural UCI Track Champions League begins in November 2021.