Meet the Belgian-Croatian cycling star who wants to ride for Croatia

Lionel Vujasin (Photos: MyWhoosh/Private album)

Their are plenty of Croatians in the diaspora making waves in sport. One of them is Lionel Vujasin who recently claimed silver at the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships.

Born and raised in Belgium but connected to his Croatian roots, the 35-year-old has his sights set on representing Croatia on the international stage.

We caught up with him to learn more about him and how is conquering Esports.

Lionel Vujasin (Photo: Private album)

Can you tell us about your Croatian heritage.

My great-grandmother was from Pakoštane, and my great-grandfather was from Nin. They both emigrated to Belgium after the First World War.

My great-grandfather worked in the steel industry in Liège, while my great-grandmother initially followed her first husband when he moved to Belgium.

Sadly, he passed away just a few years after their arrival. She decided to stay and opened her home as accommodation for workers from the homeland in the area, cooking and doing laundry for them to earn a living.

Pakoštane

It was there that she met my great-grandfather. Together, they had three children (including my grandfather), but she was a strong-willed woman.

She refused to let him recognize their children unless he also did so for the children she had from her previous marriage. That’s why I bear her name today and probably also why we eventually lost contact with Croatia.

After she passed away in the 1950s, my great-grandfather moved back to Nin and rebuilt his life, while my grandfather married a Belgian woman. To secure his future in Belgium, he had to complete military service to obtain Belgian citizenship.

Nin

Like many Croatians, my grandfather was a huge sports fan, so I grew up watching sports from a very young age. In 1998, when I was nine years old, I had the Panini Football album for the World Cup in France.

I was sticking the images into the book, and when I placed the HNS crest, he told me something like, “You know, my parents came from that country.” It was the first time he ever mentioned our Croatian heritage. We watched all the games together, and for some reason, I still vividly remember the victory against Germany—the way Vlaović and Jarni scored and how happy my grandfather was.

With Croatia’s incredible run in that tournament, something was sparked inside me, and I became really proud of my heritage.

Watching Croatian teams and athletes became something we shared. He always said how much he supported them and loved watching them because they had a fighting mentality that made them special.

I can’t count how many times we sat in front of the TV watching the Vatreni, Janica and Ivica Kostelić dominating Alpine skiing, Blanka Vlašić winning medals, Goran Ivanišević triumphing at Wimbledon, or the handball team battling it out with France. He often celebrated any victory with a glass of Šljivovica.

There was also a café in town run by a Croatian friend. I was a bit too young to go there regularly, but I remember sometimes going with him and seeing him surrounded by other old Croats.

Lionel Vujasin (Photo: Private album)

Those were the only moments I ever heard him speak Croatian. Unfortunately, he never took the time to teach me the language beyond a few words, always saying that mathematics was more important.

Do you visit Croatia?

Yes, of course! I’ve been to Dubrovnik many times—the classic tourist thing (haha)—but also to Zadar, Nin, Labin, and Poreč. I even raced two mountain bike events in Croatia when I was younger, in Premantura and Samobor.

Do you have any favourite Croatian food?

Honestly I like the simple things—just sitting outside with some bread and ajvar makes me happy. The fjaka lifestyle, you know.

How did you first get into cycling?

Cycling is pretty big in Belgium, and as a teenager, I loved spending time riding my mountain bike in the woods. There was a Mountain Bike World Cup not far from my home, and I took part in the public race.

At the time, I was a big fan of the Fumic brothers, Lado and Manuel, German riders with Croatian heritage. During practice on the course, I got the chance to meet them.

I think Lado noticed the Croatian sticker on my bike and said a few words to me in Croatian, but I didn’t understand a thing (haha). They were both super nice, signing autographs and even giving me some gear. They were so cool that I wanted to do my best to be like them, so I started racing seriously.

Apart from the silver medal at the 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in Abu Dhabi, what are some of your other achievements?

In 2018, I won the CVR World Cup in Vancouver. At the time, it was the World biggest event in cycling eSport, with a $10,000 prize for the winner. I came in as an underdog, with zero experience in the discipline, and won. That was a game changer for me, and since then, I’ve made eSport my priority.

After that, I finished 6th and 5th at the World Championships in 2020 and 2022. I was also part of the bronze-medal-winning team at the Olympic eSport Week in Singapore in 2023, which served as an exhibition event for potential eSport Olympics in the future.

I’ve been ranked World number one on Zwift several times and am currently among the top five riders on the MyWhoosh platform.

How often do you train and what do you have coming up. 

I train about 20 hours a week, combining specific interval sessions on my eSport setup, long endurance rides outside, and some strength training to develop power.

Cycling eSport is a physical eSport—it’s not like a video game where you use a controller. We have to pedal on a real bike connected to a smart trainer, which transfers the power data we generate to the game platform, making our avatar move.

Since we’re not limited by aerodynamics or technical riding skills, the effort becomes extremely demanding from a physiological standpoint. Often, the winner is simply the one who can handle the most lactic acid in their legs.

As for my upcoming goals, the first-ever Olympic eSports Games have been announced for Saudi Arabia in 2027. From what I could read it appears that the qualification pathway will start in 2025 so I remain ready to secure my spot to this historic event.

Lionel in action at the World Champs (Photo credit: MyWhoosh)

Next to that, my main focus for 2025 is performing well at the next World Championships in Abu Dhabi at the end of the year. My wildest dream would be to represent Croatia there and bring back a medal—or even better, a World Champion title.

A (not so) funny story—I’ve already tried to obtain Croatian citizenship in 2021. I even had the support of the secretary of the Croatian Cycling Federation. Unfortunately, I hired a lawyer to handle my application, but it turned into a disaster. After I paid him, I never heard from him again.

Looking back, I was probably a bit naïve, and I eventually gave up. The World Championships were approaching, and I was afraid of getting stuck in a lengthy process without any certainty of success—especially after already losing more than a thousand euros. Moral of the story, be careful with all those so called company on social media that offer services to help you in your application.

To be honest, it has always been frustrating to see, for example, American basketball players with no real connection to Croatia getting citizenship to play for the national team, while I, as a descendant of Croats, struggle to get that same opportunity in my sport.

At the end of the day, I’m not asking for any support—I just want the chance to honor my heritage and the memory of my beloved grandfather. Wearing the Croatian national jersey with the iconic checkered pattern would mean the world to me.

I know my sport isn’t the biggest one, but I still hope that, with my performance at the recent World Championship and that silver medal, I could be considered as a potential interest to the Republic of Croatia, that could bring value to Croatian sport and perhaps inspire the next generation in Croatia to follow my path.

Lionel on the podium at the World Champs (L) (Photo credit: MyWhoosh)

Do you also do road or track racing?

I used to do mountain biking when I was younger. I even raced once in Premantura, thanks to my friends Robert and Marko Faraguna who ran a bike club called Istra Bike in Labin back in the days. I was battling with the Croatian national champion at the time—until a famous Istrian rock broke my bike. (I got to learn the hard way why the race was called the Premantura Rocky Trails)

Nowadays, I’m 100% focused on cycling eSport because the racing is so specific that it requires a completely different training approach.

Does Croatian have a federation for Esports?

I don’t think such a thing exists in Croatia. Actually, my discipline is a bit different because it is considered a physical eSport by the International Olympic Committee and is supervised by the UCI, the International Cycling Union. In Croatia, it falls under the Croatian Cycling Federation (HBS).

Can you make a living from Esports?

It’s becoming more and more professional. Our sport is still in its early days, but I’m fortunate to be among the few riders who can make a living from racing—this is my second year in a row doing so. This is mainly thanks to the platform MyWhoosh, which also sponsors Slovenian cycling superstar Tadej Pogačar.

MyWhoosh organizes the Sunday Race Club, where we get the opportunity to race for prize money every week. It’s a bit stressful because we don’t have contracts, so our income depends entirely on our performances. You can’t afford to get injured or sick, but I’m still grateful for the opportunity to make a living from my sport.