If there’s anything I like around these parts, it’s short easy-to-write posts with good news. And this one pretty cleanly falls into that category. Though, admittedly, it doesn’t have all the answers. I’ll give a quick background up front, and then include the entirety of the Rouvy statement.
As you might remember, just over a month ago, Rouvy announced the acquisition of FulGaz from Ironman. Further, Rouvy then became the official partner of Ironman (instead of FulGaz). To distill that very long post down, Ironman basically kept cutting the resources from FulGaz, trying to pigeonhole it into being a platform for triathletes, without really understanding how triathletes train. That led to ignoring the core cyclist base that had been the starter dough and bulk of FulGaz, stunting growth, as triathletes didn’t really jibe super well with the platform.
Of course, as part of that, FulGaz did gain numerous filmed Ironman courses (many they filmed themselves), which were quite good. As part of that announcement, those all go to Rouvy, and will stay there (this updated announcement reconfirms that). However, as you’ll read below, there are still unanswered questions, especially around people who want to use both platforms. In my mind, that’s frankly kinda easy: You get both for one price. FulGaz and Rouvy can do fun accounting math internally if they want to, but generally speaking, the whole point of platform acquisitions is to grow subscriber bases and combine libraries/content.
In cases where the acquired assets are notably different, then you see a premium tier. But I don’t see that as the case here. They’re similar enough that I don’t see many people subscribing to both (whereas in the case of TrainerRoad & Zwift, people most definitely subscribe to both for different reasons).
In any event, dive into the announcement below – it’s surprisingly and refreshingly honest and frank. And if you’re a frequent reader here, you know that’s definitely my jam.
Rouvy Announcement/Statement:
Here’s the full announcement from Rouvy. No sense in re-writing that when I think they did an exceptionally good job at just being straight shooters on the situation. Given how this whole thing happened, it was clearly the best avenue going forward to try and gain the trust of the FulGaz community.
With that, here ya go:
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Hey FulGaz Riders,
I know there’s been a lot of uncertainty and rumors about the future of FulGaz. So I want to share the full picture with you openly. Consider this the official statement from us at ROUVY, directly to you.
First things first; FulGaz will continue as a standalone app!
I think it’s important to share the backstory about how we got here. When we acquired FulGaz as part of our long-term partnership with IRONMAN, the plan was simple on paper – migrate FulGaz’s incredible content library and subscribers over to ROUVY, offering a personalized welcome package that kept FulGaz pricing and ride history intact.
However, from the moment we took over, we underestimated just how different these two apps are. The feedback was direct, sometimes brutal, but always passionate. Many of you reached out, both on social media and via email. Some of your questions we simply didn’t have answers to at the time, so I’m sure at moments it felt corporate and impersonal.
But we read everything and responded as quickly and personally as we could, including hundreds of emails directly from ROUVY CEO, Petr Samek.
Could we have communicated better? Absolutely. But, like the original FulGaz team did, we learn by doing, act quickly and aim to improve over time. It was intense and, to be honest, it made us rethink our approach. We originally planned for FulGaz users to transition to ROUVY by the late 2025 and sunset the platform. But as we dug deeper analyzing data, running financial projections, and most importantly, listening to you, it became clear:
This community didn’t want FulGaz to go away and that FulGaz has its own identity, positioning, and value. We had a plan, but you changed it and FulGaz will continue as a standalone app.
FulGaz will remain a boutique, community-led platform focused on curated, high-quality, 4K bike-recorded content. We will continue operating it as long as it remains economically sustainable.
Put simply: As long as you keep using it, we’ll keep running it.
Running a high-quality streaming platform isn’t cheap. It requires ongoing resources, which is why we must maintain at least ~80% of the current subscription base for this to work. That’s the threshold we’ve set to ensure long-term viability in our financial projections.
If you want FulGaz to thrive, we encourage you to support it. Consider purchasing an annual plan and staying subscribed even during the summer months when usage naturally drops. Your commitment ensures our commitment, and keeping the platform running requires consistency, not just in winter but year-round. Talk to friends and family about FulGaz, spread the word, and be an ambassador for the product.
Some of you might have first heard the news that FulGaz would stay alive on DC Rainmaker before we made this official statement. Ray’s update sparked a wave of hope in the community, and to be fair, it was well-timed. The truth is, we had just made the decision less than a week earlier, so consider this an endorsement of his ability to get real insider information for his blog DCRainmaker.com.
That said, we couldn’t confirm it immediately because we still had to finalize several operational details, figure out how to bring back key team members, and ensure we had a viable long-term plan.
We’re now fortunate to have Moray, Klem, and Peter back on board. While Mike, Bec, and the rest of the team won’t be returning, Mike played a key role in helping us navigate this transition, and we’re grateful for that.
Talking about the long-term plan, I want to be clear about what we will do and what we won’t. Call it a vision of sorts:
- Stability Over Innovation: No major new features, but we’ll ensure smooth performance and reliability
- Community-Driven Roadmap: Paying users will help shape priorities via a public voting system
- No IRONMAN Content: All IRONMAN rides will be phased out by the end of 2025
- Standalone Platform: No migration package to ROUVY; FulGaz and ROUVY will remain separate
- New Content Approach: Expect carefully curated content instead of frequent new ride drops
I know this doesn’t answer everything, and you probably have questions like:
- What about rides that were being sent to FulGaz for processing?
- What if I want to use both platforms, FulGaz and ROUVY?
- Will there be any FulGaz content on ROUVY?
- What happens to Coaches and Clubs?
- What about FulGaz Femmes by IRONMAN?
That’s why we’re hosting a Q&A in the Facebook Group. This will allow us to discuss what’s next and answer your concerns. If you’re not already in the group, I strongly encourage you to join, it’s the heart of this community.
When: February 27–28, 2025 (all day)
Where: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FulGazRiders
What: Drop your questions in the comments, and we’ll be answering throughout the day
This is your chance to help shape FulGaz’s future. We’re committed to keeping it running as long as the community supports it.
Erik Hegely
Managing Director, FulGaz
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Dated: Feb 26th, 2025 at 11PM CET (though, this was timed to be an Australian release at 8AM AEDT on Feb 27th, 2025).
Going Forward:
Obviously, the hard part begins now. In some ways, this makes it easier, and in other ways harder. It’s easier in that they’re retaining a chunk of the original FulGaz staff, while committing to keeping the product alive as long as a sufficient number of people keep paying for it. It’s also easier in that they can certainly take advantage of the larger Rouvy technical team and expertise (be it on sharing code behind the scenes, high-quality rides as appropriate, etc…).
On the flip side, it’s harder in that with the original waters being muddied, they’ve gotta win back anyone who might have originally cancelled. Further, there is the reality that the founder of FulGaz (Mike) isn’t coming along for this ride. I don’t get the impression that’s anything Mike is upset about, but rather, as he noted to me a month ago – the realization that for the first time in about 15 years, he might actually take a break. Smell the roses and all that. Fair enough, I can certainly understand that. Setting that aside, Rouvy’s statement doesn’t imply/hint at any improvements to FulGaz, either in content or product. At some point, those paying users will expect that – just like any other paid platform.
Ultimately, it’s up to Rouvy to make this work. I suspect by the North American fall (e.g. Oct 2025), we’ll have a pretty clear picture on how things are going, how the integration dust has settled, and if the numbers that Rouvy needs are stabilized and growing where they want them.
With that – thanks for reading!
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