Do you consider yourself a good time trialist? Next week’s Chasing Cancellara events give you the chance to compare yourself to one of cycling’s all-time greatest, Fabian Cancellara. Here are the details…
Who is Fabian Cancellara?
Fabian Cancellara (or “Spartacus” as he is nicknamed, due to his stature) is a recently-retired Swiss professional road cycling legend and Time Trial Specialist.
His achievements are impressive. He was the 4x World Time Trial Champion and 2x Olympic Time Trial Champion as well as winning three of cycling’s most prestigious races (the “monuments”), multiple times. In addition, he won 8 stages of the Tour de France, including wearing yellow for 29 days.
Group Social Rides
Fabian is leading two social rides prior to the big events, and one afterward:
- Fast and Female Social Ride, Sleepless City, February 28th @ 6:30pm GMT
- Q&A Pre-Event Social Ride, Richmond Rollercoaster, March 3rd @ 6:30pm GMT
- Recovery Ride, Champs Élysées, March 15th @ 7:30pm GMT
Main Events
On March 9-13 individual TT events will be held on two different Zwift routes. Fabian won’t be racing with everyone else. Instead, your goal is to beat Fabian’s pre-set times:
- Stage 1: 2015 Richmond UCI Worlds Course, 16.2 km (10.1 miles) / 142 m (466‘)
Time to beat: 24m 36s - Stage 2: Temples and Towers, 32.6 km (20.3 miles) / 280 m (919‘)
Time to beat: 51m 56s
(It’s worth noting that neither of these course times is incredibly fast. We would say they’re roughly at B race pace.)
Sign up and see what you can do!
Pick Your Wheels
The event notes say, “You’ll be auto-assigned Fabian’s weapon of choice: The BMC Time Machine time trial bike, so get ready to light it up!”
That means you’ll still be able to choose which wheels you use. We recommend the DT Swiss disc wheels for both TT events, since they’re the most aero.
Unlock the Kit
The suffering will be worth it as when you finish one of the race stages, you’ll unlock the exclusive in-game Chasing Cancellara kit. Note: finishing one of the social rides will not unlock the kit.
See you on the start line!
Event descriptions contain the following note: “You’ll be auto-assigned Fabian’s weapon of choice: The BMC Time Machine time trial bike, so get ready to light it up!”
Do we actually get to choose the bike for these events?
Sounds like no! That note wasn’t in there when I prepped this post… I’ll amend above.
Always creative!
“It’s worth noting that neither of these course times is incredibly fast.” Hmm, looking at the results of the first few runs, only a handful of people were faster. So it’s not really that easy! I guess no drafting makes a big difference.
Yep, “roughly at B race pace” is fine if you’re in a pack. As an average B I’ve raced around there faster than this, but in TT mode about 2½ minutes slower. Kinda weird to be riding in a group but with no drafting dynamics.
Final time for the stage also includes the lead-in which adds another +minute to the lap
Agreed, based on my actual time and those in the same event, it takes 4.5 w/kg to match the target time for the SHORT ride (stage 1). Slight +/- depending on how well you manage the watts on the descents and 3 mini-climbs. Theoretically 4.5 is above the B category, but for many B riders, their rating is based on FTP (reflects expected peak for an hour) or mix of races that includes longer events, so 25 minutes in the uper yellow to red might not be a fatal effort
Having now done the long stage averaging 3.7 w/kg and reasonably well managed splits I came up a bit over 2 minutes behind the target time, so I suspect it takes pretty darned close to 4.0 to match Spartacus. BTW, I used Enve 7.8 wheels, would recommend a disc instead. The time I save on the climbs helped, but not enough to offset what I was burning on the tarmac.
I’m curious, is there footage available where Fabian is setting the time.
Sadly no. It would’ve been great if there was a Pace Partner style pacer to follow.
Did Fabian actually ride this time or was it just arbitrarily selected?