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    FeaturedTips & TricksRacing

    How to Boost Your ZwiftPower Ranking

    Eric Schlange
    By Eric Schlange
    January 7, 2022
    14

    Our recent post on How ZwiftPower Calculates Rider Rankings introduced many Zwifters to this global ranking system. Now it’s time to look at strategies for boosting your ranking!

    Race Stronger Riders/Higher Categories

    Remember: generally speaking, “to improve your ranking you must beat riders currently ranked stronger than yourself.” If you’re not racing against higher-ranked riders, you’re not going to improve your ZwiftPower ranking.

    There are different ways to execute this strategy:

    • Race Up a Cat: riders in the next category up will have a better ranking than those in your category, meaning you have more potential points to earn. Further reading: The Dangers of Racing Your Zwift Category
    • Race Uncategorized Races: while rare, some races have just one category, so you’ll be racing against riders of all abilities. If you’re normally a B or lower, that means you’ll be competing for points against some higher-ranked riders who normally race in higher categories.
    • Choose Higher-Quality Races: did you know ZwiftPower ranks the quality of races, so you can find events with stronger fields? Further reading: How To Find High-Quality Zwift Races Using ZwiftPower Rankings
    • Look at the Signup List: a simple but effective strategy. Click on an event in ZwiftPower, then click the “Rank” column to sort signups by their ranking. If you’re ranked higher than anyone currently signed up, this may not be the best event to target when pursuing a rankings boost.

    Race Against Larger Fields

    A huge field of B’s in the L39ION Crit Series

    As explained in How ZwiftPower Calculates Rider Rankings, field size is a key part of the Points Per Place calculation. It doesn’t affect how many points you earn for 1st place, but it greatly affects the points given to 2nd, 3rd, etc.

    This is a simple strategy to execute: just look at how many are signed up for a race, and join the bigger events.

    Race Your Strengths

    An obvious strategy, perhaps, but worth mentioning. When you’re racing for a ranking boost, choose a race that suits your strengths. That means flatter racers for sprinters, hilly races for climbers, etc. Choose a course profile and length that suits you best.

    Further Reading: All About Your Critical Power Chart on ZwiftPower

    Work With Teammates

    Most serious Zwift racers are part of a team. And it’s possible, on a well-organized team, to enter races where you have team members working as your domestiques with the goal of maximizing your result. If your team members can mount attacks to tire out the field, drop back to lend you a wheel, and lead you out for the win, you stand a better chance at a good result.

    This happens quite a bit in ZRL events, but you also see it in one-off events and short race series which have a GC element. All it takes is planning and some willing teammates!

    Remember: You Only Need 5

    Racers sometimes make the mistake of constantly targeting good ranking results, racing multiple times each week in the hope of earning a points upgrade.

    But remember: your ZwiftPower ranking is the average of your 5 best race results in the past 3 months. That’s only one race every 18 days, on average.

    Instead of scraping for points every other day, you may be better off using some of your hard days to execute workouts that shore up your weaknesses or boost your strengths. If you’re getting dropped on short climbs, do some VO2 workouts, or race in Yorkshire and treat is as a workout without investing a lot in the outcome.

    Then rest up and use your newfound fitness to kill it in a race against a strong, large field!

    Sign Up Early

    When smart racers are looking for a race to join, they want a high-quality race. That usually means a larger field containing higher-ranked riders.

    If you want to attract others to a race, sign up early yourself! The earlier everyone signs up, the easier it is for everyone to find which races feature the strongest fields.

    Strategies Just for Women

    In talking about rank-boosting strategies, we heard from several ladies who gave the same tips.

    Race Down a Mixed Category

    While the women we talked to generally agreed that it’s pretty tough to get a good result as an A woman in a mixed A race, they said they’ve received good rankings boosts by entering mixed B races.

    ZwiftPower moves ladies up from the women’s B to A category when they hit an FTP of 3.7 w/kg. But the threshold for a mixed-category A race is 4.0 w/kg AND 250 watts.

    With many women racers being lighter-weight riders, that 250 watt threshold is never hit. (In fact, more than half of the current top 10 rated women in the world have an FTP below 250W!)

    This means many of the strongest woman racers are allowed to race against mixed B fields. And the stronger B races feature lots of men in the 150-250 points range, providing numerous opportunities for points boosts for the ladies (the average ranking of the top 10 women in the world today is 175 points).

    Choose Hilly Races

    If you’re a lightweight A woman racing against a strong mixed B field, choosing hillier events is probably your key to rankings boosts. Why? Because chances are, your FTP w/kg is much higher than most or all of the men you’re competing against.

    Use that to your advantage – sit in on the flats and descents, then destroy them on the climbs. Place high and take home the points!

    Questionable Tactics

    Here are a few tactics we’ve seen used that we can’t necessarily fully endorse, as some would consider them unsporting. (Others would say it’s just shrewdly playing the game.)

    However you look at it, these tactics are being used every day on Zwift, and they’re not violating any rules. You can use them with being disqualified, but keep in mind you may angers.

    Shorter Races

    Race length has no bearing on points earned. That is, given identical fields, your 10th-place finish in a 3-hour race will earn you the same points as a 10th place in a 5-minute sprint race.

    Sort of crazy, right? Logically, this leads to some riders using shorter races to grab points without killing their legs. An especially powerful strategy if your power profile is one that performs well in shorter efforts punctuated by a sprint, as that’s what short races typically are.

    Double Races, Emphasizing the 2nd Race

    If shorter races provide a way to upgrade your ranking with less effort, how about doing two shorter races? The “Oh My Crit” series is a popular one featuring back to back shorter races.

    But here’s the pro tip (or cheater’s tip, depending on where you stand): go easy in the first race. Or skip it altogether. Then go for the best result possible in the second race. Many of the racers in that second race will be tired from the first event, so you stand a better chance of a good result with your fresh legs.

    Sign Up Late

    The opposite of our good neighbor “Sign Up Early” tip above, higher-ranked riders will sometimes avoid signing up until the last minute. This means other riders checking the competition on ZwiftPower beforehand won’t see you, which means you stand a better chance of not being marked.

    It’s the first prong of a ninja race attack, really. Couple it with an all-black kit and the Invisibility PowerUp and you’ll achieve next-level sneakiness!

    Women Helped by Men On Their Team

    Some of the women we spoke with said they have seen women helped in races by men who are on their teams. Perhaps a higher-ranked man who doesn’t care much about his ranking points will purposely let a woman teammate finish ahead of him. He may also serve as her domestique, helping her to maximize her result.

    The average ranking of the 10 top-ranked women in the world is 175, while the average of the top 10 men is 72. This is an indicator of the fact that there are plenty of dudes out there who are ranked higher than the world’s top ladies… which means ladies can grab a lot of points by finishing ahead of the guys!

    DNF

    Ah, the old DNF trick. Highly-ranked riders have been known to drop out of races before the finish, so their ranking points won’t be used to boost the race’s quality score or overall finisher average, which could boost the points of other riders.

    If you’re confused about why this strategy works, check out our post on How ZwiftPower Calculates Rider Rankings.

    Sitting Up

    A tamer version of the DNF strategy above, highly-ranked riders may decide to “sit up” at the end of a race to make sure they aren’t in the top 10 finishers. This means their ranking points won’t be included in the race quality score, but will still be included in the overall finisher average.

    A less offensive strategy than the pure DNF, to be sure.

    Conclusion

    Keep in mind these are not standalone strategies. For big rankings boosts you’ll have to combine as many of these strategies as possible: racing up a category against a large field on a route profile that suits you, for example.

    Best of luck as you work to boost your ranking!

    Questions or Comments?

    Did we miss any good tips? Have you seen any of these in practice, or used them yourself? How did it work out? Share below!

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      Eric Schlange
      Eric Schlangehttp://www.zwiftinsider.com
      Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Follow on Strava

      14 COMMENTS

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      James
      James(@james-ryan-marvell)
      7 months ago

      Thank you, these articles are really great. They help to explain the magic of Zwift power and racing. Unfortunately, they also highlight why people dislike it – Its overly complex and convoluted logic encourages folks to take advantage and cheat – it’s just not fun. Why can’t it be simpler just ride your bike. I feel like saying, who are we fooling – if we step back and look at the 3 articles on the subject – how is the simple and easy. Having said that I see how this developed but as a “Normal” rider – this would not… Read more »

      0
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      7 months ago
      Reply to  James

      On one hand, I get what you’re saying James. But on the other… ZwiftPower’s ranking system is exactly the same as USA Cycling uses. Complex? Maybe. But ranking systems are generally complex… when you simplify them they fall apart. What’s more complex, I suppose, is digging into strategies for boosting your ranking. But that, again, is like any other game. Dig into the complexity if you want… or just race on Zwift without thinking about it. The choice is yours! I think it’s a reflection of people’s personalities/obsessions more than a reflection on the systems themselves. Some people love to… Read more »

      0
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      7 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      BTW: if you want to see a TRULY complex ranking system, check out this post on the Cycligent Rankings rolled out by Frank Garcia years back. THAT was tough to wrap your head around!

      https://zwiftinsider.com/cycligent-virtual-rankings-launch/

      (It’s not longer in use…)

      0
      Reply
      James
      James(@james-ryan-marvell)
      7 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      Honestly, i am not a pro i just like to ride so i like simple. I would be happy with a system that enables me to see improvements.
      PS we rode together last week with Coco it was after a race so you were pretty beat.

      0
      Reply
      James
      James(@james-ryan-marvell)
      7 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      That’s fair feedback. Maybe the difference is its managed and has oversight i.e. sandbagging is managed?

      0
      Reply
      ShakeNBakeUK
      Trusted Member
      ShakeNBakeUK(@bakeuk_2)
      7 months ago

      “ZwiftPower moves ladies up from the women’s B to A category when they hit an FTP of 3.7 w/kg AND at least 250 watts.”
      I’m not 100% sure if the raw FTP limit applies to women’s ranking – is this correct?

      0
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      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      7 months ago
      Reply to  ShakeNBakeUK

      Ah, you’re probably right. I’ll take that out.

      0
      Reply
      Paul
      Paul
      7 months ago

      I must admit that I’d not paid that much attention to the rankings until I read the previous and this article. I really enjoy racing, but wasn’t particularly interested in improving my ranking. Now having just moved up to the over 60’s I see I’m ranked 60th overall and 8th in the UK. I think I might start looking for higher quality races and concentrate on improving ranking rather than finishing position.
      Thanks for the tips, I’ll certainly be giving it a go.

      0
      Reply
      Paul
      Paul
      7 months ago
      Reply to  Paul

      I tried this out today. I joined the ZRG-CC Friday race which had a big field and low ranking number. It nearly killed me, It was a mass start, and I tried to stay with front group of 100+ on the flat roads of Neokyo. After 12 minutes of 4.2 w/kg just sitting mid pack I got dropped and ended up 53rd out of 134 in cat B. A lot of riders around me had improvements of around 50 points, whilst I was on 333 points compared to my ranking of 257. Having said that I did get new pb’s… Read more »

      0
      Reply
      Warren Shiau
      Warren Shiau
      7 months ago

      After a few races here and there of riding with the purpose of whittling down the lead pack/number of finishers without sprinting at the end (got no top end now after months of no races just riding around) – – – and thinking “Yeah, this got whittled down to 1/2, 2/3 etc. the starters, I going to get a good ranking point reduction!” and getting no ranking improvements – – – my brain started to recognize the whole DNF thing. They should change it to give finishers ranking calculations points based on the number of starters. People DNF’ing is fine… Read more »

      Last edited 7 months ago by Warren Shiau
      0
      Reply
      Garth
      Garth
      7 months ago

      I have found it to be sometimes frustrating to try choosing races specifically to improve my rank because the results can be surprising, in either direction. I think sort of like Paul was saying, if the race quality is very high but also goes deep then it may not help you much because you still have to be able to finish well to benefit from it. The most important thing I have learned from trying to boost my race rank — and something I have to try to remind myself of at the finish line! — is that every single… Read more »

      0
      Reply
      Matt 3595
      Super Member
      Matt 3595(@straightlineboy)
      7 months ago

      It seems a fundamental flaw if you can just DNF without penalty to yourself while effectively penalising others. I wouldn’t say that people who DNF/sit up should be penalised, after all it’s a valid thing to do to save your legs for a better day, but the people at the front shouldn’t lose out because high ranked riders didn’t finish. Don’t get me wrong here, this is just an observation rather than moan, I don’t race so it doesn’t affect me at all

      1
      Reply
      Jean Leroy
      Jean Leroy
      3 months ago
      Reply to  Matt 3595

      Zwifters who finish a race ahead shouldn’t lose points because the highest ranked registered runners stopped before the finish

      1
      Reply
      EndUser
      EndUser
      7 months ago

      I generally just run events for fun .. I am on zwiftpower but honestly at the end of the day I just care that I in the top 51%

      … Some people have this obsession to win and go oh look at me i am top in the ‘blah’ … To that I say my gosh who the heck cares chutup and ride…

      0
      Reply
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