Road racing world champion Mads Pedersen and Trek-Segafredo teammate Vincenzo Nibali are among the stars participating in the new "Challenge of Stars" event presented by RCS Sport.

The race will be broadcast live over two days on May 23 and 24, with riders facing off in a knockout event before the sprint and climb winners are determined.

Initially, seven sprinters and seven climbers will be announced, with more to be announced closer to the race. Later, race organizer RCS Sport tweeted that eight sprinters would face off one-on-one and eight climbers would do the same, with a winner from each category.

The sprinters were Caleb Ewan of Lotto Soudal and Nasser Bouhanni of Arkea Samsic, while the climbers were named by Bouhanni's teammate Warren Barguil and Jakob Fuglsang of Astana.

Organizers and teams are happy to take part in the eSports race, as the COVID-19 epidemic has prevented races from being allowed and athletes are trying to stay in shape at home.

"Challenge of Stars" is a virtual "Tour of Flanders" race also held on the Bkool platform, the "Digital Swiss 5" race held by the Velon team on the Rouvy platform, the Zwift RCS Sport is also developing virtual riding and racing, including a virtual Giro d'Italia with Garmin, but Challenge of Stars is the first event by an Italian organizer to be broadcast on TV and online. Challenge of Stars is the first event by an Italian organizer to be broadcast both on TV and online.

"The inability to organize a road race outdoors at this time of year led us to think of new ways to organize bicycle races. Thus was born the Milan-San Remo virtual experience and the Giro d'Italia virtual," said Paolo Bellino, CEO and general manager of RCS Sport, organizer of the Giro. [The next step was to devise a unique, innovative and engaging format: The Challenge of Stars. This is an event with great televised potential that, thanks to the Bkool platform, will allow all fans to have a truly professional cycling experience and allow top riders to compete in an unprecedented challenge on this new terrain," he said.

Benito Vazquez, CEO of Bkool, said, "For years we have been organizing indoor cycling competitions for amateurs on our platform, but recently Bkool has also organized a competition for professionals that will be broadcast through various media and has received a great response

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." We are convinced that the technical capabilities of our simulators combined with the experience and knowledge of RCS Sports will be a new milestone in the development of this type of competition." "We have never seen a cycling star competing in this type of competition before, so it provides a groundbreaking format that will be very attractive to the public and professionals alike."