Pro cycling\u2019s quest for engagement in an era of dual screening and doom scrolling has taken the Giro d\u2019Italia virtual.<\/p>\n
The Italian tour revealed on Monday an intriguing partnership with the global behemoth that is Fortnite, a role-playing computer game.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a partnership first for a sometimes slow-burn sport that struggles for relevance with Gen-Zs \u2013 which is ironic given the WorldTour\u2019s superstars are of that very same generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaunching on Fortnite marks a strategic step in expanding the Giro d\u2019Italia\u2019s digital ecosystem and strengthening our positioning as a global entertainment platform,\u201d said race organizer RCS Sport\u2019s marketing chief Roberto Salamini.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis initiative allows us to accelerate the brand\u2019s international growth, enhance fan engagement, and create new touchpoints with younger generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a crusty millennial like me who needs help \u2013 Fortnite is huge in online gaming.<\/p>\n
Created in 2017, the cartoon role-player calls on users to battle for survival across various gaming scenarios.<\/p>\n
Fortnite reportedly has 650 million users worldwide. According to the DemandSage<\/em> reporting website, the game averages 1.3 million users per day. The ActivePlayer<\/em> database rates it \u201cone of the most popular games in the world right now.\u201d<\/p>\n 62.7 percent of Fortnite players are aged 18 to 24. Nearly 90 percent of the gaming population is male.<\/p>\n According to a press statement from RCS Sport, the Fortnite collaboration will allow users to ride through a virtual map inspired by iconic Giro locations.<\/p>\n A partnership with De Rosa \u2013 the official bike supplier of the Giro d\u2019Italia \u2013 will make bicycles a transport option for the first time in the game\u2019s history.<\/p>\n What does this mean?<\/p>\n It\u2019s an intriguing move by Giro organizers RCS Sport.<\/p>\n Cycling is typically watched and followed by an older generation.<\/p>\n For years, the sport has been trying to figure out how to build a more coherent, grabby structure that might entice a younger fanbase<\/p>\n At a broader scale, The Hammer Series was a first effort at a fast-thrill format that fizzled into stakeholder disagreement. Projects like One Cycling never got off the ground.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, teams have expanded their staffing to include a horde of videographers, designers, and photographers who can curate social media output to pull the chronically online.<\/p>\n At the micro-level, in-race initiatives like the \u201cGolden Kilometer\u201d have been rolled out to create scenarios suitable for 30-second reels and YouTube shorts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how RCS Sport plans to measure the success of its virtual bet.<\/p>\n Real-life racing starts in Bulgaria next Friday, May 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/why-giro-ditalia-partnering-fortnite\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/giro-fortnite.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated April 28, 2026 09:05AM Pro cycling\u2019s quest for engagement in an era of dual screening and doom scrolling has taken the Giro d\u2019Italia virtual. The Italian tour revealed on Monday an intriguing partnership with the global behemoth that is Fortnite, a role-playing computer game. It\u2019s a partnership first for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1907828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1907828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1907828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1907828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1907828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The search for the next generation of tifosi expands into Fortnite<\/h2>\n
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