Rohan Dennis wins his second race at the Augmented Reality Digital Swiss 5 

Rohan Dennis and Stefan Kung win 2 races each on the super realistic Rouvy platform

On the final stage, Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos) won the fifth and final installment of the Digital Swiss 5.

The Australian’s victory was his second win, following his victory on the opening day. In a repeat of that result, Dennis beat Nicolas Roche (Sunweb) into second place, while Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) took third place.

Stage 5 was 36km course from Camperio to Distentis-Sedrun by way of a simulation of the Lukmanierpass.

"Today was a lot harder than stage 1 but I had Nico chasing me and I could see Schachmann was as well. I went out quite hard and tried to hold onto it," Dennis said.

"Roche just kept going, I could feel him coming and I sort of measured my effort to what he was doing and made sure I had a little bit left at the end to kick again."

James Whelan (EF Pro Cycling) took an early lead on the 15km ascent of the Lukmanier Pass.  Behind Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ilnur Zakarin (CCC Team) chased.

Dennis paced himself and attacked halfway up the climb and built up an advantage into the long descent to maintain his lead.

Nicolas Roche (Sunweb), winner of stage 3, chased along with Schachmann on the approach to the final 6km climb to the finish.

Roche dropped Schachmann to close the gap on Dennis, to just 80 metres, but Dennis hung on to win by 12 seconds ahea dof Roche with Vingegaard 25 seconds back in third.

Rouvy Platform

The app uses a technology they call Augmented Routes (AR). Footage from real roads is used to create a rideable course with accurate elevation profiles. 3D items like finish gates and side barriers are added to the courses and the user’s 3D avatars cycle along the route. The result is pretty immersive, and a cool option for those looking to explore the world while riding real routes.

There are over 3,000 routes available on the program, but Rouvy employees aren’t driving around in a Google Maps car recording footage for each of them. The company advertises their service to race organizers as a means of promoting their events. “This is a technology we offer to organizers of small and big events around the world,” says Samek. “They are able to create the footage for us without super-specialized equipment.”

Rouvy can develop a new course in a few weeks, meaning racers can compete on the ‘actual’ course, rather than a digital world associated with the race only by name.

VIDEO: 2020 Digital Swiss 5 Stage 5

2020 Digital Swiss 5 Stage 5 Top 10

1 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team Ineos 0:59:28
2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:00:12
3 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:37
4 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:45
5 Max Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:49
6 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb) 0:00:50
7 Ben O'Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:10
8 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC Team 0:01:16
9 Nick Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:31
10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:33