Saris has announced a long-term strategic alliance with the Indoor Specialist esports cycling team ©Indoor Specialist/Saris

Saris has announced a long-term strategic alliance with the Indoor Specialist esports cycling team, a predominantly United States-based, elite-level racing outfit competing on video game Zwift.

The partnership is anchored by media and activation opportunities designed to reach a global and rapidly growing community of esports enthusiasts, it is claimed.

The programme provides additional cross-functional benefits for Saris, such as product engineering data, business and consumer analytics, and promotional events.

In the year since its formation, Indoor Specialist has seen great success, it is claimed.

"We are actively working to alter the way people see riding on the indoor trainer," team co-founder Matt Gardiner says.

"Racing on Zwift is unlike any other discipline of cycling, and our team aims to be the best at it."

Indoor Specialist is a top-ranked team in-game and has excelled in Zwift’s Pro-Am racing circuit, a recent expansion by the company into professional esports.

The team, founded in February 2019, won the 2019 Zwift USA National Championship with team sprinter Holden Comeau taking victory in dominant fashion.

UCI President David Lappartient is the chair of an esports liaison group ©Getty Images
UCI President David Lappartient is the chair of an esports liaison group ©Getty Images

"The trainer is the most important piece of equipment for esports cycling and the H3 is truly a racing machine," Comeau said.

"We’re thrilled to be working with Saris in what is truly a strategic partnership in this exciting new sports vertical.

"We’re helping to create exceptional products for world-class athletes who are racing right now on Zwift, and we’re setting the stage for the talented women and men who will undoubtedly be joining us and winning championships in the near future."

Saris is confident the partnership will help refine and improve their offerings to indoor cyclists.

"Having our product used at the highest level of sport is an integral part of our product development process," Jesse Bartholomew, director of consumer products at Saris, said.

"Indoor Specialist is adding a new dimension to this, and it has already led to direct improvements to trainers in the field and laid the foundation for esports-specific development in the future."

esports continues to grow in popularity and has started to enter the Olympic Movement already, with the International Cycling Union (UCI) establishing strong links with Zwift in particular.

It was up for discussion at the International Olympic Committee Session in Lausanne in January, led by UCI President and esports liaison group chair David Lappartient.