Let’s just say the first event from our “Elite Pro Series” was bigger than expected: 1156 Zwifters signed up to race the pros!
Of those 1156 that signed up, 756 actually started, making it by far the largest designated race that I have participated in. To say that Elite and I were pleased would be an understatement.
The winners* from our very first event were:
- Cat A: Brian Ditty (36.07)
- Cat B: Krzysztof Biegański (36.10)
- Cat C: Mikkel Hartmann Andersen (39.41)
- Cat D: B Westland (46.02)
- Cat E (Women Only): Steph Clutterbuck (38.24)
*Results taken from ZwiftPower
Steph Clutterbuck from MOVISTAR was the only Pro to trump the Zwift community.
From my personal perspective, this first race was intense, with the start being key. I was concerned with making sure the event started as planned and wasn’t really paying attention to my position (I wanted to make sure that all groups got away safely, which to my relief they did). Due to my tentative start, coupled with the obviously rapid pace of the front group, I found myself several hundred riders from the front and it was impossible to catch any of the groups ahead. I was however in good company as I was with employees from Elite and our goal soon turned to simply surviving and maintaining position.
I don’t think I have raced so hard for what pretty much equated to 200th position, however, it was incredibly fun.
Along for the ride was Tammy Brimner, a professional cycling photographer, who is going to be covering all future events, capturing the race as it unfolds. All photos in this post have been supplied by Tammy.
Round 2
If you missed the chance to race the professionals, the second event of this monthly race series is scheduled for 7:30pm CET (6:30pm GMT/2:30pm EDT/11:30am PDT) this Thursday, 17th March.
The route chosen is Neokyo All-Nighter, with one lap lasting 24.6km with 167m (548′) of elevation. If it’s anything like the previous event, it’s going to be fast and furious.
Pro riders who will be racing include:
- Thibault Gurenalec (Arkea Pro Cycling Team) – he recently finished 8th in GC Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta, which had a really strong field.
- Simone Petilli (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux) – he recently finished 9th in Strade Bianche
- Theo Delacroix (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux)
- Laurens Huys (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux)
- Tim Naberman (Team DSM)
- Charlotte Kool (Team DSM)
Wrapping It Up
Sign up and don’t miss the opportunity to race against the pros! It’s fun to be part of such a mass participant event, and it gives you chance to see how you measure up against the world’s best.
Personally, I was disappointed in the first event. With all the pros and Elite staff on hand, it was a prime opportunity for discussion of Elite’s products and what the pros are up to. Instead, once the start gate dropped it was 45 min. of dead silence. I mean, Matteo Jorgenson participated, he rode Paris-Roubaix. What a great opportunity it was to talk about that. I’ve participated in many other races and events on Zwift with pros that had much more lively conversation throughout. I guess I just had different expectations about what it was going to be like and… Read more »
Hi James, I think you had misconceptions about the event, it was and is marketed as a race and not a group ride. People were at their max capacity and not able to chat. I was at my limit and I know the people in Elite were, so sadly we were not able to engage with people once the event started. The purpose of the event is to race the Pros, the fact that they didn’t chat either meant they were on their limit too as seen by the fact they didn’t take the victory. I will start interviewing the… Read more »
My apologies Tim, you are correct… I did misunderstand the context of the event. I thought it was “Ride” with the pros, as opposed to “Race” the pros. In that context the experience makes more sense for what it actually was. But in the start pen at least there is an opportunity for some chat and product discussion.
Let’s see how the next one goes. 🙂
Hope you enjoyed it James. That was tough and certainly one for the sprinters. Next month we hit the climbs, with “Climber’s Gambit” 👍
I was surprised tonight. I saw you commenting on start line, but the A’s didn’t appear to start with with the B’s. we caught a few strugglers and I could see a lot of red dots on my map during the KOM. It did mean that the B race was more competitive, as the very strong B’s couldn’t sit in with the A’s, but I did miss the madness of the first race. I did notice numbers were significantly down, so maybe not everyone would agree with me.
Hi Paul, I am going to have check this but as the different categories were in different pens, and not all together in one group as it was set for Cat races, due to the funnel affect, this impacted how the riders merge and linked up. For example, take “Road to Sky race,” everyone in the pens are close by and there isn’t a great distance before they merge. I wonder if that had an impact, as you are absolutely right, I was expecting to see B’s at least. Next month is “Climber’s Gambit,” so I will want to make… Read more »