This page includes route maps and other details for Zwift’s France course. This massive map originally launched on June 26, 2020 in anticipation of the first-ever Virtual Tour de France.
Looking for other courses? Jump to Watopia Routes, London Routes, New York City Routes, Innsbruck Routes, Yorkshire Routes, Crit City Routes, Bologna TT, Paris Routes, or Richmond Routes.
French cyclists use the term “casse-pattes” (literally “leg-breaking”) to refer to particularly difficult parts of a ride, or roads that awkwardly change gradient and break a cyclist’s rhythm.
Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the Casse-Pattes route covers the large outer loop of the map in a clockwise direction. The first 12km is pan-flat with two timed sprint segments, but then that rhythm is broken up in the back half by two timed KOM climbs.
Route Basics
Length: 23 km (14.3 miles)
Elevation: 145 m (476‘)
Lead-In: 0.9 km (0.6 miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Begins and ends at the Marina Sprint banner.
Restriction:
Achievement Badge: 460 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Marina Sprint Reverse
Pavé Sprint Reverse
Aqueduc KOM Reverse
Petit KOM
Strava Segments
Strava SegmentsBike Selection
Despite two timed KOM segments, this route is very flat overall. Your fastest times will come from an aero setup!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
Beginning with a short lead-in from the start pens, we travel east into the marina where we get a chance to hit the Marina Reverse Sprint. (This sprint banner is the official start/finish line for this loop.)
Enjoy the sites as you spin through the flattest portion of the France map. You’ll spot Mont Saint-Michel to your left, as well as a familiar Arch and Needle as you ride near the sea. Just past a field of sunflowers, you’ll enter a town that includes the Pavé sprint segment. Go for the green, then prep your legs for the short Aqueduc KOM.
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- Marina
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- Mont Saint-Michel
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- Pavé sprint
You will descend into the fields of vineyards and flowers before it’s time to hit the big climb of this loop: the Petit KOM. At 2.7km with an average grade of 4% its zigzags are just long and steep enough to make your legs really feel the effort!
Recover as you descend and ride past the start pens, then it’s one final Marina Reverse sprint to the finish line.
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- Lavender fields
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- Aqueduc KOM
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- Climbing the Petit KOM
Literally “sweet France”, this route covers the upper loop of Zwift’s France map which was created for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France. It runs in a counter-clockwise direction, which means it’s just a reverse version of the R.G.V. route.
Route Basics
Length: 24.1 km (15.0 miles)
Elevation: 108 m (354‘)
Lead-In: 0 km ( miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Ends at marina sprint banner. Begins from start pens, or just before pens if free-riding. Subsequent laps begin and end at the marina sprint banner.
Restriction:
Achievement Badge: 480 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Ballon Sprint
Aqueduc KOM
Pavé Sprint
Marina Sprint
Strava Segments
Bike Selection
This route is very flat overall. Your fastest times will come from an aero setup!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
We begin by traveling west from the start pens, taking the first right onto the twisty river road toward the hot air balloon fields and the Ballon sprint. Then another left takes us through vineyards and over the short Aqueduc KOM and quickly through town onto the Pavé Sprint.
Then it’s past the sites of the Needle and Arch, Mont Saint-Michel, and the lighthouse, into the marina and onto the finishing Marina Sprint.
Note: this route is a little odd, in that it doesn’t appear to have a “lead-in” from the start pens, even though the start/finish lap banner is nearly a full lap from the start pens. (You will unlock the badge on your first go around, despite only traveling through the lap banner once at the finish.) So we created two Strava segments – one for your first lap, and another for subsequent laps.
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- Balloon fields
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- Pavé Sprint
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- Stone bridge toward marina
Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, La Reine (translated “The Queen”) is the Queen Stage of the vTDF, taking riders up Mount Ventoux to the Chalet Reynard banner. It’s also the only route that isn’t listed in the France map’s route picker, indicating that La Reine will continue to be event-only even after the France map is added to the guest map rotation.
This route is an alternative way to ride Mount Ventoux, but be warned: it bypasses the Mount Ventoux KOM start line, so if you choose to ride all the way to the top, you won’t be listed on the leaderboard or Strava segments for the climbs! (If you want to ride the KOM start to finish, select the Ven-Top route.)
Route Basics
Length: 22.8 km (14.2 miles)
Elevation: 1181 m (3,875‘)
Lead-In: 0 km ( miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Begins from start pens, ends at Chalet-Reynard KOM banner partway up Ventoux.
Restriction: Event Only
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Ballon Sprint
Petit KOM
Strava Segments
Bike Selection
Looking to get your fastest time up this climb? The Specialized Tarmac Pro frame with Lightweight Meilenstein wheels is your best bet! Check out Fastest Bike Frame and Wheelset for Climbing Alpe du Zwift for more tips.
Route Description
We begin by traveling west from the start pens, then taking the first right to ride along the twisty river road toward the hot air balloon fields and Ballon sprint. Enjoy your 8km of flat warmup, because you’ll soon turn right and begin the Petit KOM climb – and your climbing won’t end until you reach the KOM banner at Chalet Reynard over 14km (and 1100 meters) later!
The climb up to Chalet Reynard is beautiful, with the landscape morphing from lowland rolling hills to granite-strewn pine forests. You’ll pass the Didi (aka “El Diablo”) balloon 1km from the finish line. Got anything left? Push it to the end!
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- Didi, 1km from the finish
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- The finish at Chalet Reynard
Keep Going?
For those unfamiliar with Mount Ventoux’s layout, Chalet Reynard is located 6km before the finish line at the very top of Mount Ventoux. If you choose, you can continue riding after finishing the La Reine route, climbing for another 6km to the summit.
A bit of TDF History
In 2016, Tour organizers cut the Mont Ventoux stage short due to high winds, deciding to end it at Chalet Reynard. Race leader Chris Froome crashed into a stopped moto and famously elected to run his way across the final ~1km since he couldn’t ride his broken bike! (He was eventually given a neutral service bike.)
Looking for a tour of France? Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the Petit Boucle route is the longest on the map (along with Tire-Bouchon). Its name references Le Tour’s “Grand Boucle” nickname, which means “big loop.”
It covers all roads in both directions, except for the road up Mont Ventoux.
Route Basics
Length: 61 km (37.9 miles)
Elevation: 430 m (1,411‘)
Lead-In: 1 km (0.6 miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Begins and ends at the Marina Sprint banner.
Achievement Badge: 1220 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Marina Sprint Reverse
Pavé Sprint Reverse
Aqueduc KOM Reverse
Ballon Sprint Reverse
Aqueduc KOM
Pavé Sprint
Marina Sprint
Ballon Sprint
Petit KOM
Strava Segments
Bike Selection
This loop is flat and fast. Your fastest times will come from an aero setup!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
This route begins with almost an entire loop of the R.G.V. route, but it turns left near the end, heading toward the start pens instead of the finish line. This takes you uphill to a left-hand turn onto the Petit KOM’s descent.
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- Aqueduc KOM
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- Mont Saint-Michel
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- Lavender fields
After a right at the next fork, we’re back on the road we started with, in the opposite direction. That means we’ll hit the Aqueduc KOM and Pavé Sprint before passing Mont Saint-Michel and the lighthouse and heading into the marina for a Marina Sprint.
Then it’s along the twisty river road with hot air balloons floating in the sky, where we’ll hit the Ballon sprint.
Next we turn right onto the Petit KOM – the longest climb of this route. Finish the climb, descend past the starting pens, and finish with one more Marina Reverse Sprint.
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- Climbing the Petit KOM
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- Pavé Sprint
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- On the twisty roads along the river
Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the R.G.V. route covers the upper, larger loop of the map in a clockwise direction. The first 12km is pan-flat, while the back half includes a timed KOM and some rollers along the river.
“R.G.V” stands for route grand vitesse, or “high speed road”. A fitting name, since this route is definitely one for the sprinters. Though only 24km in length, it includes three timed sprint segments!
Route Basics
Length: 24.1 km (15.0 miles)
Elevation: 107 m (351‘)
Lead-In: 1 km (0.6 miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Begins and ends at the Marina Sprint banner.
Restriction:
Achievement Badge: 480 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Marina Sprint Reverse
Pavé Sprint Reverse
Aqueduc KOM Reverse
Ballon Sprint Reverse
Strava Segments
Bike Selection
This loop is flat and fast. Your fastest times will come from an aero setup!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
The first 16km of this route match Casse-Pattes. Beginning with a short lead-in from the start pens, we travel east into the marina where we get a chance to hit the Marina Reverse Sprint. (This sprint banner is the official start/finish line for this loop.)
Enjoy the sites as you spin through the flattest portion of the France map. You’ll spot Mont Saint-Michel to your left, as well as a familiar Arch and Needle as you ride near the sea. Just past a field of sunflowers, you’ll enter a town that includes the Pavé sprint segment. Go for the green, then prep your legs for the short Aqueduc KOM.
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- Marina
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- Mont Saint-Michel
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- Pavé sprint
Next we turn right toward the “Balloon fields” where we’ll hit the Ballon Reverse Sprint, then enjoy a twisty, rolling ride along the river before wrapping up our lap with another Marina Reverse Sprint.
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- Lavender fields
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- Aqueduc KOM
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- Balloons!
Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, Roule Ma Poule is essentially the reverse version of the Casse-Pattes route, covering the full outer loop in a counter-clockwise direction with a different start/finish location atop the Petit KOM.
Route Basics
Length: 23 km (14.3 miles)
Elevation: 145 m (476‘)
Lead-In: 3.1 km (1.9 miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Loop begins and ends at Petit KOM arch. Lead-in from start pens/spawn point is significant, with some climbing (see Strava segment below).
Restriction:
Achievement Badge: 460 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Aqueduc KOM
Pavé Sprint
Marina Sprint
Bike Selection
This route is very flat overall. Your fastest times will come from an aero setup!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
We begin with a significant lead-in climb traveling east from the start pens up to the Petit KOM banner.
Once you cross the banner the official loop begins, starting with a zigzag descent of the Petit KOM soon followed by the short Aqueduc KOM. Enjoy your ride through the french countryside, hitting the cobbled Pavé Sprint, riding past the field of sunflowers and through the tunnel of trees.
Then it’s past the sites of the Needle and Arch, Mont Saint-Michel, and the lighthouse, into the marina and onto the Marina Sprint.
All that’s left from here is to ride past the start pens, climbing back up to the Petit KOM banner to finish your lap.
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- Descending the Petit KOM
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- Pavé Sprint
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- Marina Sprint
Looking for a tour of France? Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the Tire-Bouchon route is the longest on the map (along with Petit Boucle).
Its name translates to “corkscrew” in French, and that’s exactly what your ride may feel like as you cover all the France map’s roads in both directions (except for the road up Mont Ventoux).
Route Basics
Length: 61 km (37.9 miles)
Elevation: 431 m (1,414‘)
Lead-In: 3.1 km (1.9 miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Route begins and ends at Petit KOM arch. Lead-in from start pens/spawn point is significant, with some climbing (see Strava segment below).
Restriction:
Achievement Badge: 1220 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Ballon Sprint Reverse
Marina Sprint Reverse
Pavé Sprint Reverse
Aquaduct KOM Reverse
Petit KOM
Ballon Sprint
Aqueduc KOM
Pavé Sprint
Marina Sprint
Bike Selection
This route is very flat overall. Your fastest times will come from an aero setup!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
The route begins (and ends) at the Petit KOM arch. That means a significant lead-in from the start pens, so be ready for some climbing out of the gate! Once you ride through the Petit KOM arch you will descend the zigzags and turn left onto the Balloon fields, hitting Ballon Sprint Reverse.
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- Descending the Petit KOM
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- The Lighthouse
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- Mont Saint-Michel
Then it’s a right turn onto the Marina Sprint Reverse, through the marina town and past some of the key sites of this route: the lighthouse, Mont Saint-Michel, and the Needle & Arch. Just past the field of sunflowers you’ll ride into town and over the Pavé Sprint Reverse segment, then it’s past more fields and up the short Aqueduc KOM Reverse.
The largest climb of the route is next, the Petit KOM. (Now we’re riding roads we’ve already covered, but in the other direction!) Climb those zigzags then descend past the start pens, turning right to ride the twisty road along the river and past the hot air balloons once more, onto the Ballon Sprint.
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- Beautiful French fields
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- On the windy river road to the balloon fields
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- Marina Sprint
Turn left and hit the Aqueduc KOM and Pavé Sprint, ride around to the marina and a Marina Sprint, then past the start pens and up the climb to the Petit KOM banner to finish. You did it!
Released with Zwift’s France map for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France, the “Ven-Top” route is named for the massive climb it contains: Mont Ventoux! This GPS-accurate model of the world-famous climb is by far the toughest ascent in game, climbing 1480 meters (4857′) from the beginning to end of the timed KOM segment.
Route Basics
Length: 20.9 km (13.0 miles)
Elevation: 1534 m (5,033‘)
Lead-In: 0 km ( miles)
Map: France
Start & Finish
Begins at start pens, ends atop Mont Ventoux at KOM arch
Restriction:
Achievement Badge: 420 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Mont Ventoux KOM
Strava Segments
Ven-Top
Mont Ventoux KOM
Chalet Reynard KOM
Start Pens to Chalet Reynard
Bike Selection
Looking to get your fastest time up this massive climb? The Specialized Tarmac Pro frame with Lightweight Meilenstein wheels is your best bet! Check out Fastest Bike Frame and Wheelset for Climbing Alpe du Zwift for more tips.
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
The route begins at the start pens heading east (away from the marina) and immediately onto a false flat. Enjoy it while you can: it’s only going to get steeper!
The timed KOM begins approximately 1.8km after the start. From here you have 19km and 1480m to the top of Mont Ventoux, or you can target the first KOM arch at Chalet Reynard which is 13km and 1058m from the KOM start line. (For comparison, the Chalet Reynard KOM line makes this climb very similar to Alpe du Zwift, which is 12.2km long with 1035m of elevation gain.)
When you pass the Didi ballon and see pitchforks on the pavement, you know you’re getting close to Chalet Reynard. Keep pushing for another 500 meters to that KOM banner. Then you have a decision to make: do you have what it takes to push for another 6km and 400+ meters to the top? (Of course you do! You’ve made it this far. Keep going!)
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- 8.5km in
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- Didi, 14.5km in
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- Stone bridge, 11.3km in
Notice how the landscape and foliage changes as you climb, beginning with rolling hills and pastures, morphing into a landscape strewn with giant boulders and pine trees, and eventually changing to the famous “moonscape” of Mont Ventoux’s upper reaches. Be happy you’re indoors – it gets windy outside!
You’ll pass Tom Simpson’s memorial with 1km to go. Almost there!
When you reach the weather station atop Mont Ventoux, you’ve completed the Ven-Top route. But keep riding on the flat loop to turn around, then enjoy the long descent – you’ve earned it!
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- Chalet Reynard KOM banner
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- Tom Simpson memorial, 1km from top
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- Nearing the mast!
What does R.G.V mean? Do you know?
I imagine it’s Route à Grande Vitesse, or High Speed Route, which would be a play on T.G.V. (Train à Grande Vitesse – High Speed Train), which is the name given to France’s inter-city high speed trains.
Great!! Thanks
The river road section, is this similar to Titan’s Groves rollers?
No—it’s quite a bit flatter. Very twisty, but pretty flat!
From riding it, it looks like there’s potentially going to be some gravel or MTB routes in the future.
Second that. There is a route forestiere which goes up ventoux (or down) and popular with MTB and runners. That would be a cool addition.
On ” La Riene” you say:
but it looks like this route does include the full “Ven-top” route. Where is the Mount Ventoux KOM start line located?
I have just ridden the ‘Roule Ma Poule’ route and the Mt Ventoux KOM banner was about 2km from the start of this, on the way up to the Petit KOM banner. It was roughly where the turquoise line is in the attached screenshot. Eric is right that the ‘La Reine’ route will bypass it but so will the ‘Ven-Top’ as well as this starts much higher up the mountain. I haven’t ridden Ven-Top yet so can’t say whether there is a separate KOM banner, but the one I highlighted was definitely a ‘Mt Ventoux’ banner. Very strange.
No, Ven-Top begins near the start pens – in the same place as Roule Ma Poule, in fact. The map animation doesn’t show that, but that IS where it starts.
Am i the only one who sees the potential for zwift to add the Malaucene side of the Ventoux in the future? The layout of the roads seem very similar to the real-life roads between Bedoin and Malaucene
If Malaucéne is added then so should Sault. Virtual Les Cinglés
I’m pretty sure that at Chalet Reynard there is at least a visual representation of the Sault road branching to the left on the descent…that would be so cool if I could do a virtual Les Cinglés to add to my real one!
Mont ventoux has somewhat of a unique flora (small, crooked trees in “la first”) I have done it many times, but it looks really that this is just a GPS accurate map. Are there any realistic visuals until the top section ? Also, this looks like it starts roughly right before the turn into the forest in saint Esteve, not baudoin ? (E.g does it skip the first 5km at 4%).
It actually starts earlier than the game animation shows… here’s the full route from the spawn point: https://www.strava.com/segments/24682608
See Ven-Top route details here: https://zwiftinsider.com/route/ven-top/
There have definitely been graphical liberties taken for the forest section – but perhaps an hour of 10-11% climbing through trees would be a little dreary. AllI remember about the real climb is wanting it to end!!! The section after Chalet Reynard is much more accurate is appearance
So will you only be able to ride the 3 stages on the 3 weekends?
It looks that way, yes. This won’t be your only chance to ride France/Paris, but it WILL be your only chance to ride the 2020 Virtual L’Etape du Tour.
Really want to ride these and am bummed they’re event only for now.
So just enter the event?
I notice from the download on the AppStore that France is an event only world. Will this change after TdF
Yes.
Roule Ma Poule and Tire-Bouchon are both going to be fantastic routes for racing with hilltop finishes.
Thanks Eric for the effort you put into this website, it is a fantastic resource for all of us Zwifters and must be hard work to keep it all up to date. Looking forward to exploring all of these new roads over the next few weeks…
One tiny observation: Froome did run up part of Ventoux, but not all the way to the finish line. He first had a neutral service bike, and then got a replacement team bike to complete the stage.
Good point! Reworded a bit.
Do you actually get bonus XP for La Reine? Unusual for an event-only route. I don’t see any badge for it in my list, or is it a hidden achievement?
Btw, I tried the tire-bouchon, absolutely loved it.
I don’t think you actually do! I just removed it.
When will these be available for us with shut-in legs?
Just rode Ven-Top, aka Ventoux KOM. The report given is accurate, about a 1.8km lead in, which is slightly up hill with about 59m gain before the start of the KOM. Somewhat disappointed that the climb is not segmented like Alpe du Zwift, so it’s just one long slog up. I didn’t know what to expect, and after doing a double Innsbruck Reverse KOM yesterday, just didn’t have the legs to do much more than 2.7w/kg the whole way. Long stretches of 10 or 11 percent gradients after the first km or so, only letting up for a bit before… Read more »
Are there plans to add these routes and KOMs (along with the Paris routes) to the Veloviewer Route Hunter Leaderboard? Perhaps once they go live for freeriding?
Yup!
The Marina area seems very similar in layout and visuals to La Rochelle where there is also a near by island (IL de Re)which is famous for its cycling routes incidentally
I wonder if there will be a reward at the top of Ven-top like for AdZ with the spinner? Maybe socks this time? I don’t need any more virtual gloves…
Nothing at this time–although Zwift could always add something!
Unless I’m missing it, the one variation I’d like to see is a short loop that went round and round the petit KOM, would be good for punchy intervals
I wil ride tomorrow, really look forward to it. Hope it will remind me of home (Bretagne). Let’s hope we will be ride these world free after the tdf.
When comparing your maps with Strava and Veloviewer, your maps are rotated 90 degrees clockwise, so I think your maps should be rotated 90 degrees anti clockwise!
Magnificent. Like Lanser-Kopf until Chalet Reynard. And if you’ve got that far, completing the ascent is a choiceless-choice. The iconic meteo-rocket summit skyscraper is tantalisingly obscured until the final push and the inclusion of the Tom Simpson memorial detail is touching.
Don’t hesitate. The sense of achievement will wash away the lactate and you can freewheel back down to Saint-Estève feeling good.
Is it possible to use your influence to get a ZwiftInsider segment from the Junction at the to of the Petite KOM to Chalet Reynard and to the Ven Top summit? Would be nice to track public times on Strava regardless of whether we pick La Reine or Ven Top
Will Paris and France be available for everyone to train on like a London, Whatopia etc
Yes, probably around August 10th it’ll become part of the rotating guest world schedule.
It would be such a shame to not release these two “worlds” for general consumption. I really wish they would release the Japan world, regardless of the Olympics.
@Eric Schlange do you know if I was to manually navigate to any of the other routes, would I still get the route badge provided I started and ended at the correct locations? Thanks
You will not.
Thanks, that just saved me from doing the entire route with no reward 😅
Will the France routes and maps stay on the weekly schedule from now on, or is it only for the month of August?
Just rode Roule ma Poule, actual distance / elevation is 26.6km / 263m. Nice change of scenery.
The maps are too small to a good view of the course
Is it true that you get 1220XP for Tire Bouchon, and only 420 for Ven-Top?
Yes. Route badge XP is entirely distance-based.
Great site with really useful information. My go to site for Zwift info.
Thanks for keeping it up.
Hi, yesterday I did the Tire Bouchon challenge and when I checked out the details, I did about 64,3km, that’s ok. But the elevation meters were quite a bit more….596m vs 431m? I climbed 3 times the hills. Strange? Or went something wrong?
An additional picture to show the amount of hills I climbed 🙂
hi eric! do you have a list of how many bidons apply to each route for paris and france? i want to do your route challenge and include these new routes!
Yes, see https://zwiftinsider.com/printable-list-of-zwift-routes-by-difficulty/
what is stronger de ventoux or alphe de zwift??
Ventoux is about 50% more difficult than Alpe du Zwift.
are these maps still available on zwift or was that only for a limited time?
All maps rotate based on a monthly guest map schedule. See the current schedule here: https://zwiftinsider.com/schedule