The third race of Zwift Racing League 2023/24 Round 1 happens Tuesday, September 26, and it’s the first team time trial of the season. We’ll be in France for the Roule Ma Poule route, which carries a sting in the head (and tail).
Let’s dig into crucial segments along with bike choice and pacing options!
Looking at the Route: Roule Ma Poule
We’ve never raced Roule Ma Poule as a TTT in ZRL, but riders will be familiar with these roads since this loop is the reverse version of the more often raced Casse-Pattes route.
The route totals 26.1km including the lead-in, and all categories will race the same distance. It is largely flat, apart from the climb up the backside of the Petit KOM, which will be done twice (once on the lead-in and once at the end of the race).
Here’s the route profile of Roule Ma Poule:
This profile doesn’t tell the whole story, though, because it doesn’t include the lead-in! The lead-in is almost entirely uphill, and in fact we made a Strava segment for it:
The lead-in is 3.11km long, averaging 3.4%. It takes you from the start pens up the backside of the Petit KOM (or the foot of Ventoux, if you want to think of it that way) and dumps you off at the Petit KOM banner, which is the official start and finish line for Roule Ma Poule.
After finishing the climb for the first time, you get a bit of recovery on the Petit KOM descent before settling into your TTTrain for the flat portion of the event. Yes, you’ve got the Aqueduc KOM (0.42 km, 0.9%) to tackle, but it’s more of a sprint than a climb, with only a ~200-meter length of uphill road.
Following 17.4 flat kilometers, you will pass the start pens and arrive at the foot of the final climb. This is where teams may wisely choose to drop slower climbers as the four fastest go all-out for the line. But don’t drop your riders too soon – this is a very draftable climb, so it may make sense for them to do one last “suicide pull” before falling off.
Read more about the Roule Ma Poule route >
Bike Frame + Wheel Choice
Of this race’s 27.2km, only ~5.4km is legit climbing (twice up the ~2.7km reverse Petit KOM). And that climb is short enough that a faster climbing bike only gains 1-2 seconds on an aero bike.
To put it simply: go aero. Here are the 4 fastest TT setups in game:
If you don’t have access to one of those, check out “Fastest TT Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level” and use the fastest TT frame and wheelset available at your level.
More Route Recons
Many recon rides are planned each week on the upcoming ZRL route. If you’re unfamiliar with this course, jump into an event and do some recon! Here’s a list of upcoming Roule Ma Poule events.
Si Bradeley
TTTips
Team Time Trialing on Zwift is a challenging mixture of teamwork, physical strength, proper pacing, and Zwift minutiae like picking a fast bike and understanding drafting (particularly with the nuances of Pack Dynamics 4.1).
Flatter courses with key climbs like this week’s are a balancing act between pushing hard on the climbs without burning out the legs and hurting your speed in the flats.
With the key climb happening at the start and end of the race, teams may consider a “keep everyone together” strategy for the first climb, while the second climb should be attacked as hard as the team’s 4 best climbers can manage since your time is based on when your 4th rider crosses the line.
Your goal in a ZRL TTT is to get four riders across the line in the shortest time possible. That means every team’s pace plan will be different, based on the abilities of each rider. We highly recommend having an experienced DS on Discord directing your team, especially if your team contains some inexperienced TTT riders.
If you really want to go down the TTT rabbit hole, check out Paul Fitzpatrick’s zwift-ds.com site and particularly the Excel Power Planner sheet.
Your Thoughts
Any insights or further thoughts on this race? Share below!
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