The fourth points race of Zwift Racing League 2021/22 Season 1 happens Tuesday, October 26th (Monday the 25th for Premier Division racers). This week is another one for the sprinters, but they won’t have an easy time of it if the punchy climbers ride smart.
The race takes place on Watopia’s Two Bridges Loop route, which has never been raced before in ZRL. There’s only one intermediate, and it’s a short sprint with a downhill lead-in. The question is: who will get to that sprint first on the later laps?
Let’s dig into the course, including tips for bike choice, strategic options, and the crucial pinch point where riders will get dropped each and every lap.
Looking at the Route: Watopia’s Two Bridges Loop
One lap of this route is 7.1km (4.4 miles) long, with 73m (240′) of climbing. A/B categories will race six full laps (42.6km plus a short lead-in from the pens), making it a decently long effort. On the other side, C/D will only be racing 3 laps (21.3km). We’re not sure why C/D are doing such a short race, but it should make for some all-out efforts!
The race begins in downtown Watopia, riding in the reverse direction which takes us through the start/finish banner and up the short rise to The Esses. We’ll twist our way through these curves, hit the last short kicker, then descend to the Watopia Sprint Reverse.
This is a short sprint (~10 seconds) with a downhill lead-in so speeds will be high and the aero powerup especially advantageous.
Strategically, this is a crucial part of the race since the sprint is awarding FAL points to the first 10 across the line on each lap, as well as FTS points to the 10 fastest through the segment for the overall race. This is the only intermediate on course, so make your choices wisely!
After the sprint we go through the cobbles of the Italian Village, then climb a few rollers past the waterfall. Most riders won’t be pushing the pace here, but sprinters who get away off the front on the intermediate may want to do so if attempting a long breakaway, perhaps on the final lap.
Soon enough we’ll arrive at the most crucial pinch point of the race course: a short climb up the start of Watopia’s KOM Reverse. The climb is ~700 meters long, averaging 4% gradient but pitching up to 11% at its steepest as it bends through the giant statues.
This short climb is what makes this an attritional race because the w/kg workhorses will be putting in big digs to string out the pack and drop the pure wattage sprinters. If they’re successful in breaking up the pack, the front group will be able to grab those crucial FAL points and be better-positioned across the finish line.
Once you turn left atop the short climb it’s a shallow descent on the connecting road, then a steeper, supertuckable descent down the backside of the KOM. Speeds will stay high at the bottom of the descent proper as the road is still tilted slightly downhill. Then the road flattens out for the final ~350 meters to the start/finish line.
Read more about the Two Bridges Loop route >
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PowerUp Notes
Riders will be awarded powerups through each segment banner, meaning we’ll get 2 powerup chances per lap for a total of 12 powerups for A/B and 6 for C/D. Three powerups will be randomly given out at each banner:
Aero Boost (helmet): makes you more aerodynamic (reduces your CdA by 25%) for 15 seconds.
Use at higher speeds (flats, descents, finishes), and to get your best time on sprint segments. Especially handy when no draft is available, such as during attacks. But still quite useful when drafting.
Draft Boost (van): increases the draft effect you are experiencing by 50% for 30 seconds. Use at higher speeds (flats and descents) when you are already drafting off another rider (since this powerup only helps when you are drafting.) Very handy to increase recovery on the flats, or boost your sprint speed when chasing FTS points through a sprinting pack.
Lightweight (feather): reduces your weight by 10% for 15 seconds.
Use on climbs, when weight matters the most. This will be handy on the pinch point of each lap, or on the kicker before the descent to the sprint.
Bike Frame + Wheel Choice
With a fast, flat finish and so many intermediate points waiting behind a fast, flat sprint, going with your most aero setup possible is probably the wisest choice here. That’s the Cervelo S5 2020 + DT Swiss Disc if you’re at level 42+. If you’re not there, see our handy “Fastest Frames and Wheels By Zwift Level” page.
If you want to give yourself just a bit of an edge on the crucial climb, or if you don’t have access to a disc wheelset, go with the Tron bike as it’s the fastest ride you’ve got access to.
See Tron vs Top Performers for a helpful chart of how different popular setups perform >
More Route Recon
Many rides are planned on Two Bridges Loop leading into the big race. If you’re not familiar with this course, consider jumping into another event to do some recon! Here’s a complete list of upcoming Two Bridges Loop events.
Zwift’s vibrant race community continues to up its game when it comes to course knowledge and recon videos. Here are our two favorite recon videos this week:
Sherpa Dave
Si Bradeley
Strategic Options
This week’s race is one of the longest of the season for A/B categories, and we’ll be seeing riders dropped on each and every lap. Here are a few predictions of strategies we’ll see deployed:
- Climbers attacking climbs: the only chance climbers will have to win this race will be if they drop the sprinters on the key climb section. Look for climbers/puncheurs to put in big digs on every lap.
- Sprinters chasing intermediates: sprinters will be going all-in for those intermediate sprint points, especially that crucial FTS on the first lap when the pack is largest.
- Sprinters grouping up: some sprinters will get dropped, but their race isn’t over. They may still be able to grab FTS points if they’re riding with a fast enough group and have an aero powerup. Attempting a solo sprint probably won’t win you any points, but grouping up may do the trick!
- Long finish: the final go at the key climb will see some riders who don’t fancy their chances in a pack sprint pushing hard to drop others in their group so they can solo to glory. Be ready for a long final effort on the final ~2.4km of the race, and hold onto a useful powerup if you can!
Watch the Premier Division Race
Zwift’s top racers will take on 6 laps of Two Bridges Loop on Monday at 11am PST.
Your Thoughts
Any insights or further thoughts on Week 5’s big race? Share below!
Is it just me or has WTRL over-indexed on prime points in this series? It’s seemingly the same 5 to 10 riders gobbling up all the prime points each week. FTS points are mostly an illusion each lap as most of them are won in the first lap (from primarily those same 5 to 10 riders each week).
I can’t speak for the Cat-A races, but what you describe is feature, not a bug, of the current system for Cat-B and below. It should be noted that Season 1 Series 1 (as in, Autumn series of 2020-2021) was more of a scratch race, but the current scoring scheme has been in place since Season 1 Series 2.
Most intermediate “sprints” on the various courses are effectively 1-5 minute efforts, and the people who score points are most often those who can repeatedly dish out that type of effort. If the intermediate is a sprint, it’s basically a 60-second (or longer) lead-up during which people need to average 115-120% FTP just to stay at the front of the pack followed by a ~20 second sprint. If it’s a small hill, it’s basically full on effort for 1.5-5 minutes. Occasionally, even the opening sprint feels like a 3-5 minute climbing effort: for instance, the opening sprint for week 2 and the upcoming week is basically 3.5 minutes at ~115% followed by a 20-second sprint.
That’s it. If someone excels at longer durations but lacks the short term explosivity; tough luck. If someone relies on a really good 10-20 second kick + good positioning IRL to do well in sprints but isn’t as aerobically capable, that person also isn’t going to do well. ZRL in its current manifestation is effectively a puncheur’s paradise, and anyone else with a different power profile basically has a puncher’s chance for most of the mass-start ZRL events. There’s a reason why most of those who do well (either in terms of overall finishing order or in terms of points accrued) have really high “Punch” rating (80% or above), for that’s exactly the type of physiology most suited to ZRL in its current iteration.
I get why WTRL (ironically, the “T” stands for tactical despite the lack of any tactics when it comes to actual ZRL events) adopted this current scoring scheme, for the older one lacked selection points and just ended up being a glorified sprint for most events. The races are made artificially more selective, but the cast of characters having a chance to do well really hasn’t changed.
Why not include a route with an actual longer climb though? Epic, Innsbruck or like. Are they afraid of the few FAL/FTS points? They could have a race with longer climb around 1 hour total length.
Honest answer: don’t know
Cynical answer: WTRL wouldn’t be able to handle the volume of requests to upgrade someone for having exceedingly high 20-min power.
Snark aside, even if WTRL does include a ~20-min climb, that doesn’t change things much in the lower categories. The people snatching up most of the intermediate points are well capable of securing those the intermediates and still do, for 20-minutes, 4.3 w/kg in Bs or 3.4 w/kg in Cs.
It may make for some difference in As for one or two particularly mountainous races (say a non-punchy rider can just drop others by doing 6.0 w/kg), but the punchy riders would still have hoovered up intermediates, so that even if all the people who won intermediate points finish top-30 at best, the end result still won’t be as drastic.
You’ll need a seriously hilly course that skips flat intermediates and has only hilltop KOMs (say Surrey Hills) to come up with a course where a diesel climber has a decent chance of coming out even vs. a punchy rider. And even then, heavier IRL racers who rely on tactical nous and get results in breaks still don’t get a place to shine.
If the above illustrates anything, it’s that we should all be immensely grateful to our non-punchy teammates for showing up and getting flogged week-in and week-out.
I honestly don’t understand why the C/D races are being made shorter at all. But this one is just ridiculous – only doing half the distance makes no sense, when they could have given us 4 or 5 laps instead.