Ironman Sells FulGaz to Rouvy, Announces New Digital Partnership
Ironman has sold FulGaz to rival platform Rouvy, making them their official digital partner, while promising enhanced virtual training features for both cyclists and triathletes.
Well, it's official - Ironman has decided to part ways with FulGaz, selling it to Rouvy in what's turning out to be quite an interesting shake-up in the indoor training world.
First up, the big news: Ironman's not just selling FulGaz - they're jumping into bed with Rouvy for the next five years, making them their official digital platform partner. If you're used to seeing FulGaz banners at Ironman events, get ready to see Rouvy everywhere instead.
David Deakin
Rouvy's already hit the ground running. They've taken the top 20 most popular FulGaz routes and dropped them straight into their platform. So if you're training for an Ironman event, you can already hop on and ride courses like Mont-Tremblant 70.3, Zell Am See-Kaprun 70.3 and the European Championship course in Jönköping.
Now, if you're a FulGaz user sitting there wondering "What the hell happens to my subscription?" - don't panic. Your app isn't going to suddenly stop working. You can keep using FulGaz just like before, though it's worth noting that it's basically on borrowed time. Rouvy's working on a plan to migrate everyone over, and they're promising to move the top 100 FulGaz courses across pretty quickly.
The whole thing seems to be about creating a better experience for athletes. Rouvy's bringing some pretty neat tech to the table - we're talking augmented reality features, realistic corner braking (because nobody likes flying off a virtual cliff), and they've even marked where the aid stations are on the courses. Plus, if you're a data nerd, you'll be happy to know it all plays nice with TriDot, Strava and Wahoo.
Ironman's CEO, Scott DeRue, is pretty pumped about it all, talking about "elevating the athlete experience" - which, let's be honest, is corporate speak for "making things better." But in this case, it looks like they might actually deliver on that promise.
The cherry on top? If you're signing up for an Ironman or 70.3 event, you can test drive Rouvy with a 30-day free trial. Not a bad deal if you want to get some virtual course reconnaissance in before race day.
Looking at the bigger picture, this is actually pretty significant for indoor training. We're basically seeing FulGaz's high-quality video routes getting married to Rouvy's fancy AR technology. For athletes, that could mean a more realistic and engaging way to train indoors - which, let's face it, is always welcome when you're staring at a screen instead of being out on the road.
So there you have it - that's what's going down with this whole FulGaz-Rouvy-Ironman triangle. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out, but for now, it looks like indoor training just got a bit more interesting.
