Tomorrow, Cycling Time Trials (CTT) – the national governing body for time trials in England, Scotland, and Wales – launches their Winter Time Trial Series on Zwift. And they’ve clearly done a great job marketing the series, with over 1,000 riders already signed up for race 1!
Hayley Simmonds, a TT medal winner at both the European and Commonwealth Games and a former National Road TT Champion, is heading up the team running the winter series. She says, “I envisage the Winter Series on Zwift as being a great way for experienced testers to maintain and even improve their race readiness over the winter period. For anyone who is new to Time Trialing, then what better way to give it a go?”
Learn all about the series below…
Routes and Schedule
The series is 14 weeks long and begins this week, with races on Wednesdays at 7pm UTC (2pm EST/11am PST) repeating on Saturdays at 9am UTC (4am EST/1am PST).
| Week 1 | Watopia’s Tempus Fugit | Flat | 12.1miles / 19.6km | 52ft / 16m | Fuego Flats Reverse |
| Week 2 | Watopia’s Triple Twist | Rolling | 12.3 miles / 24.3km | 591ft / 180m | Jarvis KOM Reverse |
| Week 3 | Richmond’s The Fan Flats x 3 | Flat | 12.1 miles / 19.5km | 156ft / 48m | Monument Ave |
| Week 4 | Innsbruck’s 2018 UCI Worlds Course Short Lap | Mountain | 14.8 miles / 23.8km | 1621ft / 494m | Innsbruck KOM |
| Week 5 | Watopia’s Tempus Fugit | Flat | 12.1miles / 19.6km | 52ft / 16m | Fuego Flats Reverse |
| Week 6 | Watopia’s Triple Twist | Rolling | 12.3 miles / 24.3km | 591ft / 180m | Jarvis KOM Reverse |
| Christmas and New Year Break | |||||
| Week 7 | Richmond’s The Fan Flats x 3 | Flat | 12.1 miles / 19.5km | 118ft / 36m | Monument Ave |
| Week 8 | London Classique x 2 | Flat | 10.3 miles / 16.6km | 209ft / 64m | Mall Sprint |
| Week 9 | Makuri Islands’ Neokyo All Nighter | Rolling | 15.2miles / 24.5km | 551ft / 168m | Rooftop KOM |
| Week 10 | Watopia’s Tick Tock | Flat | 11.8miles / 19.1km | 174ft / 53m | Fuego Flats |
| Week 11 | New York’s Everything Bagel | Mountain | 21.7miles / 34.9km | 1722ft / 525m | New York KOM |
| Week 12 | London Classique x 2 | Flat | 10.3 miles / 16.6km | 209ft / 64m | Mall Sprint |
| Week 13 | Makuri Islands’ Neokyo All Nighter | Rolling | 15.2miles / 24.5km | 551ft / 168m | Rooftop KOM |
| Week 15 | Watopia’s Tick Tock | Flat | 11.8miles / 19.1km | 174ft / 53m | Fuego Flats |
See upcoming events at zwift.com/events/tag/cyclingtimetrials
How To Participate
Simply sign up and race an event to participate! (You’ll probably want to read and understand the rules, etc, below, though…)
One easy way to see all upcoming events in the Companion app is to join the CYCLINGTIMETRIALS Club. You can also visit zwift.com/events/tag/cyclingtimetrials to see and sign up for the next week’s event.
Points System
Overall series rankings are points-based, with lower points being better. Points are earned in two different ways:
- Finishing Points: 1st place gets 1 point, 2nd place gets 2 points, etc
- Segment Points: fastest 5 through each course’s designated segment will get -5 points for 1st, -4 points for 2nd, -3 points for 3rd, -2 points for 4th, and -1 point for 5th
- Course PB Points: each course (except mountain stages) is repeated twice in the schedule, plus there are two race events each week (one on Wednesday, one on Saturday). Riders who set a new series PB on a course will receive a -1 point deduction.
Championship Criteria
At the conclusion of the 14-week series, riders will be crowned as champions in their respective categories based on their best results in 7 races*. There will be both an open championship and a women-only championship.
* The 7 races must include at least 4 flat races, 2 rolling races, and 1 mountain race, as classified in the table above.
Key Rules
Entry Requirements
You must have a heart rate monitor paired to join these events, along with either a smart trainer or power meter connected as your power source.
If you want your results to count toward the Championships, you must be registered at ZwiftPower.
Learn how to sign up for ZwiftPower >
Categories
Riders are categorized based on FTP in watts per kilo:
- A: 4-6 W/kg
- B: 3.2-3.99 W/kg
- C: 2.5-3.19 W/kg
- D: below 2.5 W/kg
These are mixed races, but CTT says, “We’ll be producing an open leaderboard and female leaderboard for each category.”
Neutralized Equipment
Bike frames and wheels are neutralized for these events, so you can ride any setup from your Zwift garage that you’d like. Maybe it’s time to race that new Brompton P Line?
Questions or Comments?
It’s always fun to see an organization step into Zwift and use the platform effectively, hosting events that reinforce the organization’s mission and connect riders from around the globe. It’s also good to see a thoughtfully designed series structure. Nice work, CTT!
Got questions or comments about the series? Share below!
Awesome Eric. Thank you so much for putting us out there. Ali
Are no rider details showing up on the zwiftpower page for the first event at 1900 GMT on Wednesday for others? Seems odd with ~29 hours to go.
https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=5188741
It’s not showing as a signup on my zwiftpower profile either.
Wondering if maybe it’s something to do with the big upgrade to the zwiftpower ZRS plugin recently.
I’m not seeing riders either. Odd.
We’re trying to get to the bottom of it. Very strange.
Showing fine for both issues this morning.
Hopefully all those signups and more over the coming hours all turn up, going to be a huge TT event!
Thanks Steve. My! That is a long list and when I sort by w/kg, I’m a very, very long way down it😆
Any heart rate recommendations would be welcomed. If they double as headphones even better
This Coospo HRM looks very similar to the one I’ve been using for ~5 years, ~£24 https://www.amazon.co.uk/CooSpo-Bluetooth-Monitor-Waterproof-Compatible/dp/B07PNNMSGS
I second this. It reads the same as my Garmin Instinct 3 and Wahoo Trackr, but unlike the wahoo, it lasts forever. I’m a heavy sweater, and my wahoo died after 6 months or so. Coospo lasted 3 years the first time with heavy use. I’m on my second.
Verified against Garmin (FWIW) and iHealth and an SPO2 meter and my finger and a watch. https://a.co/d/6MtCFts currently $34 and the strap is beefier than my Garmin.
i like 150 beats per minute
It would be great to have an alternative view of the results that adjust for sex and age. Given the number of times courses have been ridden there must be sufficient data about each of them to produce a standard time by age for male/female. Then the results are sequenced by distance from the standard. This way a female in her 70s can race against a male in his 30s.
How about it Zwift and CTT?
We considered doing it for this series but we would have had to go into each rider’s profile to get their ages and it’s just not feasible as we’re doing it all in our spare time. The Series has captured Zwift’s attention however, and I think it is something we will definitely look to develop with them for the future.
Great news! Us seniors are often overlooked even though our subs and participation are just as valuable to Zwift.
Would be great if there a way for people in the US to compete. 2pm on a Wednesday and 4am on a Saturday isn’t realistic
Yeah…. they’re definitely targeting UK/EU times.
Yeah, CTT is the national body for TTs in England, Wales and Scotland so we went after our target market not knowing that we’d end up with hundreds of people from all over. We three volunteers have been inundated but are going to regroup after tomorrow’s event to see if we can do something for you North Americans.
I REVEL in being able to do anything to pretend like I am a citizen of anywhere but America, especially since 2015-16. My wife won’t let me move to The Borders so can’t I please please ride with you on Zwift?
We are discussing it this morning and I, personally, fully understand your pain!
Hi Eric
We have added Wednesdays at 11pm UTC and Saturdays 4PM UTC. They are not ideal for the whole of the USA but logistically as a principally UK based competition, it is the best we can do.
11 AM and 3 PM on Wednesdays is just fine for me. Of course, I’m retired so I can race anytime I want. 😉
Similar scenario for us in NZ; 8am on a Thursday morning or 10pm on a Saturday evening is problematic. We’ve had similar challenges getting a team into FRR’s 6IX series as late Friday night does not work well for most. NZ is a small target audience though that’s difficult to cater for, so we can only hope that some of these events become as popular as ZRL so that various timeslots are offered.
Hey! We are discussing an additional slot this morning but you guys don’t make it easy do you? 😂
Hi Michael
We have added Wednesdays at 11pm UTC and Saturdays 4PM UTC. They are probably not ideal for NZ but logistically as a principally UK based competition, it is the best we can do.
Hi Reed
We have added Wednesdays at 11pm UTC and Saturdays 4PM UTC. They are not ideal for the whole of the USA but logistically as a principally UK based competition, it is the best we can do.
There’s a mistake on the timing of the Saturday races. While I *WISH* it were 1p PST, it’s actually 1a PST. So if you’re on the west coast, Wednesday is it.
Ali, appreciate you and the volunteers setting this up. However, I am currently seeing (according to ZP) over 70 riders in Cat C above the 3.2 w/kg upper limit for C. Some as high as 3.8.
Can you elaborate why this is?
Thanks
Hi Ingemar
We’re meeting this morning to discuss everything in the wake of our first event and this will be coming up on the agenda. One thing we intend to do when we consolidate yesterday and Saturday’s results is look for any outliers and recatagorise them. It’s going to take a lot of time but we will hopefully get there.
I am not That American, but I do live in America (sadly) and I’m supposed to go puke at midnight on a Saturday? Brilliant. Oh but I can apparently take half a day off work and do it at a just-as-crap time on a Wednesday. 🙄🔫
Looks like you are *that* American. Also looks like you didn’t read the comments above. The series is being run by the national body for TTs in England, Wales, and Scotland, and they’re going after their target market. If you had read the comments already posted, you’d know that the organisation is run by 3 volunteers, so maybe cut the snark?
Thanks Rachel. We are doing our absolute best and appreciate your kindness:-)
I think you’re doing just fine.
Hi Eric
CTT is a UK based organisation and we have to cater for our target market. We are looking at an additional spot but it is unlikely that we will be able to find a time that fully accommodates the western USA, it is just not practicable I’m afraid.
is the events based on cat classes or 20min power?
Cat classes Shane
All the riders that exceeded the W/Kg thresholds and were given pen upgrades, as per the rules on the zwiftpower stage, are now back in the pen results ignoring W/Kg.
The young rider in pen D now shown as the winner has an interesting height and weight change history, for an account only a few months old…
40Kg when account started in August 4th, 35Kg since October 17th.
140cm when account started on August 4th; then 149cm the next day; then 140cm; then 149cm August 10th; 150cm since October 17th.
OK then, totally legit.
Interesting, three of the pen D winner’s teammates in 360 Racing (so 4 of 5 members taking part) all have very questionable weight change history on zwiftpower.
We’re addressing all the outliers Steve. Thanks.
Boring routes and too long. Big NO.
Hi i notice tonight event is set at 23.00 hours is that correct
One thing I’ve looked for and haven’t found is a clarification on the Timed Segments. For example, this next week we do Fan Flats in Richmond and the time segment is the Monument Sprint. Being that we are doing three laps, is it the first lap, second lap, third lap or all three laps? Inquiring minds want to know.
Are the series standings posted anywhere? I’ve looked on ZwiftPower and can’t seem to locate them. Thanks!
I just asked, and they sent over this URL: https://cyclingtt-data–ctt-winter-series-2025-26-host-web-app.modal.run/
Perfect, thank you Eric!