Zwift always puts on a good show and the GCN vs The World race certainly delivered – people were crowded below the stage to see if the 6 GCN presenters could hold off the Zwift pack, which had 261 signups including CEO Eric Min.
This is now the second live event I have attended after the Arena Games, and Zwift certainly translates well to a live audience. It’s strange to think that we get pleasure watching people push themselves to their limits, but that certainly is what happened in this event.
The race commenced at 18:30 CEST for the GCN presenters. The format was that 3 would start and halfway through the 13.1km Beach Island Loop the team would swap riders (literally) and the remaining three would take over.
Starting two minutes later and leading the chase for the World Team would be fellow GCN presenter Olly Bridgewood. All hosted on centre stage live in Saalbach, Austria, at the Global Bike Festival presented by Play Sports Network and Zwift.
The rivalry between the presenters and Olly was playful but you got a sense that there was an undertone of serious competitiveness, with some of the GCN presenters being former pro riders such as Sebastian Haedo from GCN Espanol.
As the race commenced, Olly sat patiently waiting for his World Team to start. He was the only rider who opted to have clip-in pedals connected to his Wahoo KICKR bike – the other presenters used flat pedals.
Like all Zwift races, the start was extremely fast and hard and a chasing pack of riders formed. The GCN team was going strong but under the Austrian sun the conditions were hard. With 3km completed, water was being thrown over the riders for cooling!
Olly and the World Team were chasing hard and I noticed familiar big-name Zwift riders front and centre as Olly was pushing 6.9 w/kg. He was all-in.
As the race intensified, people got from their seats and a proper crowd was drawing closer, to witness first-hand the suffering the presenters were putting themselves through for entertainment.
The 2-minute gap was soon down to 1 and with 5km to go, it was increasingly looking like the World would take it by some margin. On the other hand, the GCN presenters were holding 390 watts, which was impressive.
As the kilometres ticked over, MC Chris Pritchard was giving time checks and I was with Obi Winters from Zwift who was constantly typing updates to the World to encourage them in the race.
The World Team was gaining. This was going to be close! The GCN presenters were turning themselves inside out, the meters were ticking down, 9 seconds the gap with 800 meters to go. This was close. The finish line was in sight, the pack on the heels of the 3 with a few hundred meters. GCN opened the sprint, the pack responded, oh, so close.
GCN sneaked over the line with 4 seconds left.
What a race! The crowd cheered, Olly looked just how I do after an intense Zwift session: exhausted. What an incredible effort! The GCN presenters were celebrating and rightly so.
What fun! What an event!
Your Thoughts
Did you ride in the race?
wpDiscuz
