For the 102nd edition of the Giro d’Italia, Zwift has just announced a partnership with RCS Sport (organizers of the Giro) which includes the release of a brand-new course open to all Zwifters.
The course replicates the 8.2km (5.1 miles) TT prologue which the pros will race, and will be released the same day the pros ride it: this Saturday, May 11th.
This is the first time a grand tour course has been available in-game, but it certainly won’t be the last. Read on for details…
About the Course
Starting in the historic town of Bologna, the prologue features a 6km run in but finishes atop a biting 2.1km climb with an average gradient of 9.7% and a maximum gradient that tops out at 16%. This is an all-out short course which will certainly make the legs burn, with 233 meters of climbing in the finish!
The race takes place against the backdrop of two of the city’s symbolic sites: starting in the majestic Piazza Maggiore and finishing on Colle della Guardia hill, where the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca stands.
View a detailed map and profile of the real-world course >
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- An IRL Zwift station, in-game… woah…
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- Start arch in Bologna
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- That finishing climb is gonna hurt!
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- Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca at the finish
Giro d’Italia TT Challenge and Prize
The new course will be available to riders of the Giro d’Italia challenge on Zwift, which is a TT race event. Details are unclear at this time, but it appears that a new “TT mode” will be unveiled to allow riders to participate in the TT Challenge whenever they’d like.
Anyone completing the challenge between May 11-13 will be entered into a drawing to win the official Giro leader’s jersey (the Maglio Rosa) signed by the 2019 Giro winner.
IRL Pro Event
An exhibition event will be held on Thursday (May 9) from the Bologna race village. Four of the competing pro continental teams (Nippo Fantini, Bardiani, Androni Giocattoli, and Israel Cycling Academy) will take to the Zwift Bologna course in two separate races.
Former Giro d’Italia Winner Ivan Basso will also make a brief return to the race on the Zwift course to test his legs. Zwifters will then be able to see how they compare to the times set by these professionals when the course launches on Saturday May 11!
Additional Events
TT races will be held on the new course for the duration of this year’s Giro. After that time, the course will be available for events (and perhaps free riding?) like other Zwift worlds. Eric Min says,
The Bologna course will live on long beyond the start … and allow many more people around the world to experience a small part of this historic city.
More to Come
With Zwift’s presence and influence continuing to grow in the cycling world, this is certainly just a taste of what’s to come. As Zwift racing evolves and more courses are built we will see popular outdoor races replicated in various ways on Zwift, and outdoor racers participating at higher and higher levels.
And that’s all good news for Zwifters, who will get to be a part of it all as we build fitness together. Ride on!
That’s a fantastic news! So I can try the ascend to San Luca (the Sanctuary at the top of Colle della Guardia) both on the road (I live only 60 km away) and in Zwift!
Be sure top post a comparison follow up! 🙂
Totally! Would be fun to compare the Giro pros’ times to Zwifters’ times.
Is reverse on the course possible?
Don’t know yet!
Is this going to be a stand alone world, or an add-on to one of the current worlds?
Stand alone world.
” a new “TT mode””?
I hope that means I can ride my Cervelo P5X
It’s great news indeed. I didn’t expect anything before Harogate Course.
Zwift sure waits until the last minute to tell us though.
@Bischmaster; one of the screenshots shows the rider going down the hill and another rider can be seen coming up (at the sanctuary), and this is past the finish, so it might go past the finish and have some sort of turn back. this would make it close to the tempus TT in distance.
Sure hope it opens for us super slow folks who have no business “racing” as well…….
Can’t believe that Zwift created this course. I lived in Bologna for 16 years, riding all over the area, but I lived off Via Saragozza at the base of San Lucca. The road everyone will ride down as they turn left at Porta Saragozza, on their way to San Lucca. Can’t even being to count how many repeats have been done either up San Lucca or up the back side on Via Casaglia. This will be an awesome addition to Zwift! Grazie e complimenti Zwift! Auguri!
Super cool!
This is going to be very COOL! Zwift really combined some very neat concepts here. Can’t wait to ride this. I may never ride outside again! LOL
I get that this new world is a partnership with the Giro but does Zwift really need another ridiculously difficult climb that most people will do a few times and never do again? 760 feet in 1.3 miles. 9.7% average gradient. Really?
This is so awesome. If teaming up with Giro or other sponsors means we can get some extra routes/worlds “for free” I’m all in :o)
I like a good painfull climb and is already looking forward to ride the crap out of that climb in the end 😉
Any wager on the fastest bike for this course without drafting?
It would certainly be a TT frame, since most of the course is flat and I don’t think the heavier TT frames will slow riders down enough on the final climb to make them slower than a non-TT frame.
I’ll go with the Cervelo P5, since it climbs the best out of the three fastest TT frames for flat/mixed routes (https://zwiftinsider.com/3-fastest-tt-bikes/).
I lived there too for 8 years and I’m excited to go back virtually to the roads of my “youth”. It’s a pity Via Saragozza isn’t included, though.
Distance wise, most of the course is flat, but time wise, my guess is that it will be >50% on the steep uphill climb, that’s what caused me to wonder.
Can’t wait for this! Fastest set up for someone on level 27 without discs? P5 with ENVE 3.4? I have about 2.5 million drops I could spend. Or Tron?
Hello Eric, how could I join this TT at giro on saturday? Can´t see it at events.
My guess is we’ll all know how it works once Zwift releases it Saturday. I have no idea! 🙂
@Ernst: My guess is that Zwift will need to update the app before the events (and the new ‘world’) will be available in-game. This might be sometime on Friday night or Saturday morning, just in time for the events to start taking place.
This made my day. Been a few times to Bologna but never with my bike, each time I put on my running shoes and climb to San Luca. Always wanted to climb to do it on my bike. Excited to do it virtually on Saturday!
Well, personally I mostly ride climbs on Zwift – as I do outside – and find the flat pieces dead boring. So yes, I need this. No more flat desert roads for me please. Luckily, the number of options is growing. Everybody happy…
How long would that 8km take if you normally go around 2.5 W/KG (200w)
It’s up on the app now. You can ride it from 8am Saturday and it’s on Sunday as well – probably longer too.
Zee: Heavy P5X on a punchy slope with 16% gradient (10% average) about 2 km long should not help you much in reality, neither on Zwift.
Christian: 10 minutes from the start to the bottom of the slope (at 34 km/h), then roughly 14 minutes up the slope