A Million Dollars: What the MyWhoosh Championships Actually Are
The honest expectation for most of us isn’t a payday. It’s the $700 gift pack and the “experience”.
There’s a stage race coming in July where an amateur holding 3.5 watts per kilo can ride for real prize money, the entry fee is zero, and the total purse is a cool one million US dollars. If that sounds too good to be true, it’s worth unpacking what’s actually going on because the MyWhoosh Championships are equal parts genuine opportunity and very clever marketing, and the registration window slams shut on 30 June.
So before you do anything else: if you even think you might want in, go and complete your Power Passport now. We’ll get to why.
The Basics
The MyWhoosh Championships 2026 run from 7 to 14 July is a seven-day virtual stage race you ride from your own pain cave on your own hardware. Lowest cumulative time across the seven stages wins the GC, just like a real grand tour. The routes span flat, hilly and mountainous days, a Canada time trial on stage six, and a final showdown in Arabia.
And every single finisher, not just the podium, walks away with a gift pack MyWhoosh values at over $700.
The headline, of course, is the money. The prize fund sits at $1,000,000, split equally between men and women, and spread across six competitive categories rather than just lobbed at the overall winner. There are sprint and climbing classifications on top, plus team prizes.
The pitch from MyWhoosh’s esports director, Matt Smithson, is accessibility: the idea that an everyday rider who can hold around 3.5 w/kg (men) or 2.5 w/kg (women) has a real reason to line up and a real shot at a result. For one week, you get to find out what a pro’s stage-race week actually feels like, from your spare room.
That’s a brilliant hook, and it’s not a lie. But it’s worth reading the rest of the page.
Behind the press release
Here’s the number the announcement is quieter about: the size of the field. In 2025, the Championships drew around 650 starters from 47 countries. For an event built around a seven-figure purse, 650 is a somwhat dissappointing turnout. MyWhoosh’s stated ambition this year is to roughly double it. Whether they hit that target is the real measure of the 2026 event, far more than the dollar figure, which hasn’t actually changed since the inaugural 2023 edition.
And that dollar figure deserves context. MyWhoosh is free to use and funded out of the United Arab Emirates, the same backing behind the UAE Team Emirates squad that Tadej Pogačar rides for. Unlike Zwift, which has to fund itself through subscriptions, MyWhoosh doesn’t need to recoup a cent of that million. The purse isn’t a self-sustaining prize pool built on sponsors and media rights; it’s marketing spend. It buys attention, it pulls competitive riders onto the platform, and it gives MyWhoosh a flagship event to anchor a calendar around.
That’s not a criticism exactly, it’s just what it is. A million dollars of someone else’s money being handed out to cyclists is still a million dollars of someone else’s money being handed out to cyclists. But it does reframe the “anyone can win” messaging. Realistically, the GC money goes to former pros and dedicated esports specialists. The 2025 MyWhoosh men’s champion, New Zealander Michael Vink, is an ex-WorldTour rider with 12 major wins under his belt. The honest expectation for most of us isn’t a payday. It’s the gift pack and the “experience”.
The rumours are that gift packs will consist of real-world and virtual kit, as well as exclusive discounts. While a comprehensive line-by-line breakdown has not been published, a recent facebook comment suggests the pack will most likely inlcude: jerseys, bibs, a nice bag, gloves, a bottle and socks as well as exclusive digital avatar items for use within the MyWhoosh Platform and discounts from MyWhoosh partners and cycling brands.
Does it actually count as fair sport?
To MyWhoosh’s credit, they take the integrity question more seriously than some. Entry requires the Power Passport Test, a one-time verification of your power and weight data, and if you’ve raced their Sunday Race Club recently, chances are you may already be cleared. The platform’s anti-doping and integrity testing from SRC carries over to the Championships too.
In a world where weight doping and dodgy power numbers are the original sin of virtual racing, mandatory verification is the bare minimum done properly, and it’s a point in MyWhoosh’s favour.
The bigger picture
There’s a strategic story here too. With Zwift having swallowed Rouvy, FulGaz and Bkool, MyWhoosh is now the last big independent in indoor cycling and the only one with the financial firepower to throw a million dollars at a marquee event. The Championships are how it plants a flag: free platform, pro-sized prizes, equal pay for women, open to amateurs. That’s a sharp contrast to Zwift’s subscription-and-acquisition model, and it’s a contrast worth watching as the market consolidates.
So, should you enter?
If you’re a racer who has two seperate power-meters and likes a structured goal, absolutely. A seven-day stage race with classifications and a finisher’s gift pack is a genuinely fun way to spend a winter week down here in the Southern Hemisphere (or to keep the legs honest if you’re up north). Set your expectations around the experience, not the prize money, and you’ll have a great time.
Just don’t sleep on the admin. Registration closes 30 June, and you’ll want your Power Passport sorted well before the gun. The million dollars is mostly marketing, but the stage race is real, and it’s a good one.