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Making pro cycling easier to follow

Designing the Race Centre for Road Code — a live race companion for one of the most complex sports to follow.

ROLE

UX lead, Race Centre

TEAM

1 UI designer, 1 PM, ~5 developers

TIMELINE

2023 — 2024

READ TIME

4 min read

CONSTRAINTS

Never tested with users

Small budget, tight timeline

Complex live race data

Fans from hardcore to casual

CHALLENGE

Pro cycling is long, tactical and always shifting. Fans pieced races together from several sites and apps, and the platform had never been tested with real users.

SOLUTION

A Race Centre built around one live stage, and a lightweight recruit → test → synthesise loop I set up with Marketing to test it without a research budget.

IMPACT

5 moderated sessions and 6 evidence-based changes in the platform’s first user testing, ready for development. Immortal closed before release.

How it came together

From an untested idea to six changes

CHAPTER 01

Who it’s for

Four personas, from the dedicated enthusiast in Belgium to the casual viewer watching the Tour for the scenery. Every screen had to work for all of them at once.

Motivations for following the Tour de France

Based on a Sportlab research study, 2010

The beautiful countryside seen on TV

31%

Mountain stages

26%

Competitive sport

20%

The champions and their exploits

16%

The Tour passes next to where I live

10%

Childhood nostalgia

The doping scandals

Advertising caravans

Four personas — who we designed for

James Smith

36 · IT Specialist

📍 London, UK

Demographic

36, lives in London. Works in IT; cycling is his main hobby.

Interest

Hardcore fan — knows team strategy and rider biographies.

Viewing habits

Watches live at any hour; blogs, podcasts, fantasy leagues.

Engagement

Comments on forums and travels to major races.

01 · The Dedicated Enthusiast

Pierre Boucher

68 · Pensioner

📍 Morzine, France

Demographic

68, retired engineer in a village in the French Alps.

Interest

Watches for the landscapes and nostalgia; loves mountain stages.

Viewing habits

Afternoons in the living room with tea — scenery over results.

Engagement

No fantasy or forums; talks races at the local café.

02 · The Scenic Viewer

Maria Bianchi

48 · Freelance Graphic Designer

📍 Lucca, Italy

Demographic

48, freelance designer in Tuscany with two teenagers.

Interest

Cycling to unwind; drawn to big races like the Giro.

Viewing habits

Watches in the afternoons while working or on breaks.

Engagement

Chats races with family; follows her teams on social.

03 · The Multitasking Freelancer

Lieve de Putter

42 · Teacher

📍 Ghent, Belgium

Demographic

42, teacher from Ghent; a fan since childhood.

Interest

Deep knowledge of Belgian riders, classics and grand tours.

Viewing habits

Every race she can — often in person in Flanders.

Engagement

Cycling clubs, fantasy leagues, always up to date.

04 · The Local Expert

CHAPTER 02

What we built

One live stage, prototyped end to end in hi-fi: 3D map, stage profile, rider data, standings, commentary and fantasy teams.

Prototype

One live race, end to end — the version fans tested

FINAL PROTOTYPE

CHAPTER 03

How we tested it

No research budget, so I teamed up with Marketing and SoMe: we recruited fans through email and Discord, ran five moderated sessions and sorted every observation into one affinity map.

CHAPTER 04

What changed

Testing left us with six revisions. I prioritised them with the PM by how often they tripped testers up, and these four made the biggest difference to how the app works:

Solution ↘Stages and standings, combined on one screen.Users switch between overall and stage results per stage, and compare them on one screen.