Cycling commentators regularly remark that the beauty of cycling is being able to ride on the same roads as your heroes. The giant mountains of the Grand Tours and the awkward cobbles of the Classics are open to us in a way that Wembley Stadium or Wimbledon Centre Court aren’t. This is week it seems like pro riders are coming onto our turf, with the inaugural UCI Cycling eSports World Championships on Zwift.
Battling the Watopia Figure 8 Reverse circuit from living rooms, balconies and garages around the world on their Garmin Tacx Neo 2T official turbo trainers, the World Champs will be crowned in the inauspicious surroundings of their own homes. And that is perhaps what makes the whole thing so uniquely exciting.
Many of us have ridden the circuit that makes up the 50km / 483m race, emptied ourselves on the Hilly KOM finale and delighted in the finish to an impossibly hard session — all from the ‘comfort’ of our own homes. This week 20 national teams and two wild card teams will do the very same for a prestigious digital Rainbow Jersey and $33k in prize money.
Elite Women
Pro riders Annemiek van Vleuten, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, Anna van der Breggen & Virtual Tour de France winner Lauren Stephens are all lining up for the women’s race. Despite the Dutch riders’ dominance on the road, their victories are far from assured with little experience in Zwift Racing. Races during this locked down year have shown that riders with virtual-specific skills are dangerous opponents — far from 2nd favourite.
Lauren Stephen’s relaxed mindset may well be a clue as to how she managed to bag the impressive Virtual Tour victory in the summer, saying “you’re in your own living room, and if you fail, you’re just going to go to the couch and watch some television after”.
British Olympian Elinor Barker was keen to point out the different skills required; “In Zwift there are power-ups, which is kind of like getting the banana in Mario Kart. It’s a little extra power that you have that you need to use in time to get the advantage.”
Elite Men
The men’s field is equally competitive with World Hour record holder, Victor Campenaerts, among the long list of favourites. Tom Pidcock, Rigo Uran, Domenico Pozzovivo Canadian pro triathlete Lionel Sanders are other names to look out for. It’ll be interesting to see the progress of breakaway specialist Thomas De Gendt, whose power is so impressive he was once temporarily neutralised when Zwift’s algorithm wrongly thought his massive power was suspect.
Away from the road pros, one man to keep an eye on is surely current US Zwift National Champ Holden Comeau. The indoor specialist was the number one world-ranked rider in Zwift earlier this year. His prowess meant he was brought in as a guest DS for Rally Cycling at the Virtual Tour de France.
His 18w/kg sprinter’s kick might well come in handy and it’s something he works on, during his virtual racing specific training. “I went on a bit of a tear the first half of October because I wanted to get my world rank back up to number one. So I was working on my sprint and winning a lot of races. In the second half of October, I shifted focus to race in a way that was more specific to the demands of world champs. I wanted to bring my 1-minute to 5-minute power up a bit.”
"US virtual racing specialist Holden Comeau's 18w/kg kick might well come in handy"
One of the favourites for the rainbow bands, Comeau thinks the finale will be less than an 80-second all out effort and is training specifically for that. His inside knowledge might well give him the edge on this platform specific race.
Catch the Action
The races are being broadcast around the world on variations stations, the full list is available here. The full start list is available on the Zwift site here.
And don’t forget you can ride the course yourself — maybe this is the to be inspired week to a PB?
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Racing for Rainbow Pixels
Cycling commentators regularly remark that the beauty of cycling is being able to ride on the same roads as your heroes. The giant mountains of the Grand Tours and the awkward cobbles of the Classics are open to us in a way that Wembley Stadium or Wimbledon Centre Court aren’t. This is week it seems like pro riders are coming onto our turf, with the inaugural UCI Cycling eSports World Championships on Zwift.
Battling the Watopia Figure 8 Reverse circuit from living rooms, balconies and garages around the world on their Garmin Tacx Neo 2T official turbo trainers, the World Champs will be crowned in the inauspicious surroundings of their own homes. And that is perhaps what makes the whole thing so uniquely exciting.
Many of us have ridden the circuit that makes up the 50km / 483m race, emptied ourselves on the Hilly KOM finale and delighted in the finish to an impossibly hard session — all from the ‘comfort’ of our own homes. This week 20 national teams and two wild card teams will do the very same for a prestigious digital Rainbow Jersey and $33k in prize money.
Elite Women
Pro riders Annemiek van Vleuten, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, Anna van der Breggen & Virtual Tour de France winner Lauren Stephens are all lining up for the women’s race. Despite the Dutch riders’ dominance on the road, their victories are far from assured with little experience in Zwift Racing. Races during this locked down year have shown that riders with virtual-specific skills are dangerous opponents — far from 2nd favourite.
Lauren Stephen’s relaxed mindset may well be a clue as to how she managed to bag the impressive Virtual Tour victory in the summer, saying “you’re in your own living room, and if you fail, you’re just going to go to the couch and watch some television after”.
British Olympian Elinor Barker was keen to point out the different skills required; “In Zwift there are power-ups, which is kind of like getting the banana in Mario Kart. It’s a little extra power that you have that you need to use in time to get the advantage.”
Elite Men
The men’s field is equally competitive with World Hour record holder, Victor Campenaerts, among the long list of favourites. Tom Pidcock, Rigo Uran, Domenico Pozzovivo Canadian pro triathlete Lionel Sanders are other names to look out for. It’ll be interesting to see the progress of breakaway specialist Thomas De Gendt, whose power is so impressive he was once temporarily neutralised when Zwift’s algorithm wrongly thought his massive power was suspect.
Away from the road pros, one man to keep an eye on is surely current US Zwift National Champ Holden Comeau. The indoor specialist was the number one world-ranked rider in Zwift earlier this year. His prowess meant he was brought in as a guest DS for Rally Cycling at the Virtual Tour de France.
His 18w/kg sprinter’s kick might well come in handy and it’s something he works on, during his virtual racing specific training. “I went on a bit of a tear the first half of October because I wanted to get my world rank back up to number one. So I was working on my sprint and winning a lot of races. In the second half of October, I shifted focus to race in a way that was more specific to the demands of world champs. I wanted to bring my 1-minute to 5-minute power up a bit.”
"US virtual racing specialist Holden Comeau's 18w/kg kick might well come in handy"
One of the favourites for the rainbow bands, Comeau thinks the finale will be less than an 80-second all out effort and is training specifically for that. His inside knowledge might well give him the edge on this platform specific race.
Catch the Action
The races are being broadcast around the world on variations stations, the full list is available here. The full start list is available on the Zwift site here.
And don’t forget you can ride the course yourself — maybe this is the to be inspired week to a PB?
Mens Bib Short
£120.00Mens Jersey
£90.00Womens Bib Short
£120.00Womens Jersey
£90.00