With Zwift’s sponsorship of the Tour de France Femmes and Paris-Roubaix Femmes, it’s clear Zwift has now transcended the virtual space and are involved in global, “real-world” events. Zwift also partnered with Super League Triathlon to host what was a series of spectacular events resulting in the crowning of the first Indoor Triathlon World Champions.
But Zwift’s involvement in real-world cycling events isn’t limited to those few mentioned above. They are directly involved in the Global Bike Festival, “the ultimate weekend of bikes, riding, music, entertainment and much, much more hosted by the world’s largest cycling and mountain bike channels: GCN, GMBN, and EMBN.”
When and what is the Global Bike Festival presented by Zwift?
The Global Bike Festival (GBF) commences on 16th June and is a festival of cycling lasting until 19th June. It is hosted by Zwift, the Global Cycling Network (GCN), and the Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN). The event series celebrates all things cycling.
It is taking place in the beautiful Austrian mountains, in Saalbach, which is an Alpine resort town 80km southwest of the city of Salzburg and. The programme looks mightily impressive.
Highlights
The highlight on opening day is the “GCN versus Rest of the world” Zwift Race at 8pm CEST, whilst over the weekend there is the opportunity to take some escorted bike rides with the hosts of GCN and even learn from Park Tool’s Master Mechanic Calvin Jones, who is coming over from the US to share his expertise and knowledge. Headlining the event are people you may be familiar with and even may have had the pleasure of riding with on Zwift: multiple Grand Tour Stage winner André Greipel along with multiple Olympic and World Champion, Ed Clancy.
Tickets for the event are still available if you fancy a weekend break in the mountains, but be sure to bring your dancing shoes because at night there will be parties courtesy of DJs A-Skillz, Norman Jay, and DJ Yoda.
If you fancy a race, on Sunday there is the KOM Challenge, a blast up one of the nearby mountains very much in keeping with the style of the Mountain Massif events hosted on Zwift.
If you like cycling and fancy something a bit different, then book your tickets and I’ll see you there.
Wrapping up
The evolution of Zwift’s marketing and the range of events they are involved with is fascinating. Parallels can be drawn with the Red Bull Energy Drink company, which started off selling energy drinks before diversifying and now has a Formula One racing team along with several football teams such as RB Leipzig and the New York Red Bulls. How long before we see a team in the professional peloton with Zwift as a title sponsor? That would be some coupe having a team with riders that all came from the platform!
In the meantime, by partnering with events like the Global Bike Festival, Zwift are ensuring they are supporting the cycling community not just virtually, but also in real life. I am looking forward to meeting up with people from the cycling community and clocking up some kilometres in the mountains.
Ride On!
