Factsheet
Developer:
- George Gilbert
- Based in London, England
Release Date:
- June 2023
Current Platforms:
- Windows PC
- Apple Mac
- Android
Planned Platforms:
- iPad
- Apple TV
- iOS Mobile
Pricing:
- Currently free to use
- Optional membership of indieVelo Founders Club
Links:
Description
indieVelo is first and foremost a community of people who share a vision of what online cycling and esports could be.
- Where your tactics and skills as a bike rider matter. Whether it's your positioning in a bunch or getting into a breakaway, your choice of cornering speed, or your judgements about when to sit in or attack in the wind, it is your decisions, and not just your power, that should materially affect the outcome of every race.
- Where the results are credible. Whether it is through built in performance verification, dual recording, encrypted protocols, or realistic physics and speeds, it is essential that what you see and experience with your own eyes is the same as everyone else; complete accuracy, precision and consistency of results and legitimate proven athletic ability.
indieVelo sees itself as a partner and service provider - creating the online cycling infrastructure that gives you the autonomy to do what you do best. Whether you are a rider, team manager, event organiser, streamer, broadcaster, National Governing Body or even another platform, we are innovating the tools to help you get the most out of an exciting new sport.
Through a fully integrated esports platform, the world's leading performance verification system, fully configurable events & results systems, custom team kit and team management tools, streaming and broadcast modes, skinnable UIs, graphics and maps, and so much more, we are defining the future of virtual sport.
In short, we aim to help and support anyone who shares our goal of transforming cycling together.
Key Features
- Tactically interesting racing, where both skill and power are needed to win.
- Real-world physics, with wind, drafting, braking, cornering and realistic speeds.
- Credible racing with fully integrated performance verification.
- Unparalleled sub-millimeter consistency, accuracy and precision of rider positions.
- Secure-by-design anti-cheat mechanisms with a server-authoritative architecture.
- Built-in dual-recording, producing a single FIT file with both data sources.
- Automated FIT file upload to Strava, TrainingPeaks, Today's Plan and intervals.icu
- Support for all modern smart trainers (BLE FTMS, ANT+ and Wahoo/Tacx protocols), HRMs and Powermeters.
- Support for all major third party game controllers - XBox / PS etc - for menu navigation, direction selection.
- Fully configurable virtual gearing that works on any trainer without any extra equipment needed.
- Hundreds of small quality-of-life improvements, such as showing battery levels for paired devices.
- Wide variety of events; scratch, timetrial, points, elimination, keirin, team racing, fixed duration, group rides & group workouts.
- Live, real-time fully automated updates in-game of event progress, such as current points totals in a points race.
- Guaranteed competitive and full fields for every race, with AI bots matched to your ability.
- Sandbagging eliminated with automatic multi-player match-making based on win-loss rankings.
- Ability to use IRL racing licence details, and events that can be limited to those with verified identities.
- Options to limit entries to events based on having a smart trainer, HRM and/or dual-recording.
- Options to create private events, with entry secured to only those with an access code of your choice.
- Fully automated real-time Performance Verification, with ability to select automated disqualifications during a race.
- Commissaire mode to enable real-time human monitoring of events, and ability to exclude any rider during a race.
- Comprehensive server audit logging for retrospective analysis of all actions and activities.
- Option for slower paced starts, with a fully configurable paced Neutral Zone in events.
- Dynamic in-game race objects, such as an automatically placed Flamme Rouge at 1km to go.
- Predicted race finish position given to each rider in pen, so everyone competing has a target to aim for.
- Free riding, route selection, and pacebots for training and every-day rides.
- Hundreds of kilometers of routes, including a velodrome.
- Novel route layouts, including split-road/roundabout features for tactical route choices mid-race.
- Wide variety of workouts with ability to import 3rd party ZWO, ERG and MRC files.
- Calendar synchronisation of daily workouts with TrainingPeaks / intervals.icu.
- Group workouts with fully automated automatic synchronisation of even custom workout files.
- Suggested ways to improve through full CP tracking and automated analysis of your rides.
- Fully configurable personalised training zones for power, heart rate and cadence.
- Regular community objectives and leaderboards to provide constant challenges.
- Achievements to stimulate engagement and completion of efforts.
- Put on your own custom events, whenever you want, configured just as you like them.
- Private events with entry limited by access codes.
- Professional broadcast & streaming API provides game data straight to OBS, vMix, Singular.live etc.
- Fully customisable camera angles, drone cameras and support for multiple in-game cameras.
- Ability for organisers to customise in-game objects, such as banners, with their own graphics & logos.
- Ability for organisers to review results of all their events, including export to CSV for easy league management.
- Ability for any rider to customise your own UI through external scripting.
- APIs for community built apps, such as controlling game actions and camera angles via a phone / tablet.
- Built-in team selection and team management, with custom team kit and DS mode for viewing events live.
- In-game chat, with filters, personalised colours and team-only chat options.
- Configurable avatar, with multiple fully customisable RGB colours on most items.
- Ability to view others, follow friends and teleport to join them mid-ride.
- Take-a-break option, to pause any non-competitive ride indefinitely but still stay with your group.
- Highly configurable graphics settings to run on 10 year old laptops through to 4k+ ultra-wide screens.
- Weekly updates, with automated patching that typically takes less than 1 minute to apply.
Additionally, online documentation is available with more detail on all the various features, and an archive of previous Release Notes is maintained to help give a sense of the rate of progression of development of new features.
Video, Images & Logos
Real-time in-game footage of indieVelo can be viewed at Gameplay Videos and on the indieVelo YouTube Channel.
Download high resolution versions of the following in-game images and logos in a single ZIP file: PressKit.zip (5 MB)
These images are free to use for any media coverage of indieVelo. Additional images are available on request.








indieVelo Founders Club
At present, indieVelo is in beta testing. The platform is therefore currently free to use, with the option to support our development through the purchase of a low-cost membership into the indieVelo Founders Club.
As a member of the Founders Club you will receive a number of benefits including:
- Your name in the in-game credits.
- Access to an exclusive Discord forum.
- Early access to in-game features, such as your own team kits and ability to create your own custom UIs.
- A lifelong warm feeling inside from helping support the creation and development of a new virtual sport.
And, when indieVelo moves to a fully commercial offering, members of the Founders Club will continue to enjoy discounted pricing.
Join the indieVelo Founders Club, by clicking here.
Performance Verification & Cross-Platform Services
indieVelo also supports the performance verification and certification of events held on other platforms.
Through our unique Digital Commissaire™, we can provide the infrastructure for tactically interesting and fair racing, live results reporting and the assurance of credible results through custom API integrations.
Further, the indieVelo RPTR™ engine supports skinning to use the graphics, UI and maps of other platforms, so giving the option for third party platforms to benefit from the advanced physics, results accuracy and performance verification of indieVelo, whilst still maintaining their own brand image for commercial broadcast.
To enquire about our full services, please email help@indievelo.com
Who We Are

George Gilbert is the founder of indieVelo and continues to design, develop and publish the platform. As a former elite athlete, with 25 years experience as a software engineer, manager and program director in the computer industry, physical esports are his natural home. He has been the chairman of the Zwift Cycling Esports Commission, the President of the Commissaires Panel at multiple UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, a major event organiser running one of the test events ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games, and a former Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors at British Cycling.
"I truly believe in the transformative power of sport. Healthy competition - when done right - can bring out the best in people, and can make a real and measurable difference to people's health, wellbeing and happiness.
We all recognise the value of shared experiences in sport, even if we happen to not all be in the same place. Online sport through a connected community, and the ability to compete with others at any time, from the comfort, convenience and safety of your own home, takes it to another level."

Bjoern Ossenbrink leads the data analysis for indieVelo's performance verification service. As the former lead of the Zwift Accuracy and Data Analysis team (ZADA) he is the widely acknowledged world expert in detecting cheating in online sport using every bit of digital data. He is a seasoned coach across a variety of sports, and holds a masters degree in applied exercise physiology.
"Central to the credibility of all sport, is the question of whether or not performances are a true reflection of the participants abilities. Physical esports present a unique challenge to verifying performances, due to the participants being located remotely from each other, and out of view from event officials. Athletes' data however provides a long term record of their training and competition that reveals changes in their physiology, training adaptations, equipment tampering and even the use of performance enhancing drugs.
indieVelo provides groundbreaking analytics and the key answers to the question of what does it take to ensure the results of online sports events are credible."
Together, George & Bjoern devised, built and ran the anti-cheat system selected by the UCI for every edition there has been of the World Esports Championships, and are continuing to work closely with the UCI to create the anti-cheat system required in preparation for cycling esports potentially being included at the Olympic Games.