Two years ago WorldTour pro team Movistar made waves in the esports world by holding a competition on Zwift to recruit members for an elite eSports cycling team. This became the first esports cycling team ever owned by a WorldTour team!
Today sees the start of another recruitment competition, this time for a development squad that will race in the top Zwift Racing League community division.
Squad Goals
The new Movistar esports development team will be racing in the community divisions of Zwift Racing League starting this fall. This team will race at the highest community division (A1), and riders may also get a chance to ride for the Movistar eTeam in elite competitions (think last year’s Zwift Grand Prix).
Competition Structure/Schedule
Details are rather sparse on Movistar’s website and the Zwift event descriptions, but it’s clear that you’ll need to fill out the Development Team Application if you want to be considered for the team.
5 men and 5 women will be selected for the new development team.
If you want a shot at getting on the team you’ll need to race one of the three race events (see details below) happening at the same time (6pm UTC/2pm EDT/11am PDT) on Thursday June 8, 15, and 22. You only need to complete one race to be considered for the team.
Race Details
Race 1: 2 Laps of 2019 UCI Worlds Harrogate Circuit
Movistar calls this “The Points Race”, although it’s unclear from the event description how the points will work. Best to assume each time up the Yorkshire KOM (1.2 km, 5.5%) and hitting the Yorkshire Sprint (0.25 km, 0.8%) awards points, as well as finishing position.
Race 2: 1 Lap of Roule Ma Poule
Movistar calls this “The Climb Race”, with efforts up the Petit KOM’s reverse side as well as the quick Aqueduc KOM (0.42 km, 0.9%).
Race 3: 8 Laps of Glasgow Crit Circuit
See event details and signup >
Race Rules
- No categories – everyone races together
- HR required
- Power meter or smart trainer required (no virtual power)
- No powerups
- Post-race verification will occur for top candidates, so ensure your weight is accurate. Dual recordings are recommended, and Movistar says “Top performances will be subject to further verification before results are finalized.”
Your Comments
Questions or comments? Post below!
A climb race with no real climbs. All the events at a single time of day… Not that I would be a contender here but these events are not designed to draw out the best people.
Petit KOM isnt on Casse-Pattes? This event is on Roule Ma Poule
Roule Ma Poule takes you up the backside of the Petit KOM right from the gun.
Not sure what Movistar’s end goal is with this anymore, much less any of the other ‘elite’ teams on Zwift. There’s no more elite racing on Zwift. There’s barely any legitimate community-level racing left on Zwift. The Chasing Tour events were riddled with cheaters and people on junk equipment. There’s no more ZADA.
I disagree, there can be very fair and competitive races on Zwift, it’s just that you have to be very selective about which races you do.