Following up on April’s wildly popular Haute Route Watopia, Zwift + Haute Route have rolled out another big challenge which happens this weekend: the Virtual Haute Route Ventoux!
This tough three-stage event takes place entirely on Zwift’s France map, and features two stages which include all or part of Zwift’s virtual Mount Ventoux. (For anyone lucky enough to be riding in the real-life Haute Route Ventoux just two weeks after the virtual event, this will serve as a final test of fitness.)
Sign up and details at www.zwift.com/hauteroute >
Test Yourself
In true Haute Route style, this is designed to be a challenging stage event. Competitors must complete all three stages on back to back days in order to officially finish. Each stage will be run across multiple time zones – see the event page on Zwift.com for schedule and signup.
A general classification on ZwiftPower will allow all entrants to track their performance across all three stages.
There will be no make-up days – stages must be completed back to back.
Stage Details
Over the course of three stages, participants will ride a total of 104.7km (65.1 miles) with 3,145m (10,319′) of climbing. These are double draft events.
Here are the routes for each stage (click for details):
A Note About Categories
Categories for the Virtual Haute Route Ventoux events are set up differently than what we typically see. Every event has A-E categories, but they are all for the same ability level and route. Basically, it appears Zwift has set it up this way so ride groups are smaller, since Zwifters on low-powered/older devices sometimes suffer from bugs or crashes in busy rides.
If your system bogs down when you’re in large group rides, join the category with the least number of riders. On the other hand, if you want to ride with the largest group possible, sign up for the category with the most riders!
Prizes and Unlocks
Zwifters who complete any stage will unlock the exclusive Haute Route Ventoux kit by Le Col to wear with pride in the game.
You can purchase the real life kit from Le Col’s website, and you’ll earn exclusive Le Col discounts by completing stages. Complete every stage for the chance to win one of three spots at an outdoor 2021 Haute Route event or one of two Colnago e-bikes!
Sign up and details will be at www.zwift.com/hauteroute >
About Haute Route
Haute Route has made a name for itself by creating challenging three and seven-day events in some of the world’s most iconic cycling destinations. Their events are essentially fully-supported stage races for passionate yet amateur cyclists. Some riders race the events, others seek to only challenge themselves, while others just want to enjoy the scenery. Some do all three!
Velo News says, “Haute Route events are at, or near, the pinnacle—for every pedal stroke on every stage—at offering the pro experience, both on and off the bike.”
Thanks for the article! I’m confused though.What is the difference between the five categories for each stage? They’re all 1-5 wkg, 1 lap, coed.
I’m wondering whether entering the ‘wrong’ category (i.e. lower than your ZwiftPower category) will trigger a DQ, regardless of what’s on the Zwift site.
See note on categories above.
I’m sticking to A, it’s very confusing, and I want to be riding with the fastest riders. I’m betting they will be selecting A.
It’s a shame the groups won’t be as big though, that’s one of things that I like about these events
Totally agree. I love the super-large groups. I’ve been in events with 7000 people without any issues.
So it means beside that i should start with A category i can sign into D cat? Are all cat zwifters visible and we can in one group A+B+C+D?
Hi,what’s the difference between the A B C and D start groups with the same 1-5 watts/kg
Are one of the stages a time trial?
No
I’m looking forward to this one. One more on the categories… I look for the events with the most signups… so I can maintain that draft boost as long as possible. 7000 people helping out are better than 70!
Most of the events only had about 70 people….
Zwift totally screwed the pooch with this one. Split starts that created “fondo doping”, confusing categories.
Also it appears that the GC combined times on zwiftpower is totally non existent. The previous Haute Route had results for combined times GC up after the first event.
2/10 for this Haute Route version. Won’t be bothered doing it again if this is how it’s run next time.
Love the Haute Route events. The Watopia series in April was a brutal stretch but great for pushing yourself. Looking forward to France.
Joined the cat B today and averaged 4.0w/kg. Zwift then put me in the Cat A results board. However there were riders in the Cat B results board with higher w/kg than me (a few over 4.5w/kg too). So how does the categorisation of results in Zwift work?
(Categorisation for just the results of just this Haute Route event, I am asking?)
All of the cat’s where 1-5w/kg. Used to spread out the load on the system.
Thank you but I wasn’t talking about the category you pick to join – I was asking about the category Zwift puts your results in immediately after you finish the race. Why did it put me in Cat A results but others stayed in Cat B?
the group you rode in has no bearing on the results. You go put in cat A because that’s your category. If you’ve been racing in B cat with that 4wkg avg over these events that go for more than 1 hour, you are sandbagging….
thanks Eric, 2 down 1 to go!!
Quick question. I use Zwift Power pretty regularly for my “real results” 😁but 2 questions:
1) I’m wondering if there are ways to see your overall results on a stage vs everyone else who has competed in that stage regardless of the time they competed.
2) Is there anyway to see combined results like GC standings. Out of the 500 people who completed all 3 stages, where would I rank?
(I recognize that this Haute Route would also be tricky considering the categories are all wonky and not based on power groupings.
thanks
There should be a GC league in zwiftpower acoording to zwift and article but it does not appear to work.
I found this link. Is this what you are referring to?
https://zwiftpower.com/league.php?id=489
Zwift have screwed this royally, there is no Zwiftpower GC results.
Will this run again so we have another chance to complete?
No. That would totally defeat the idea of a GC event. Not that it matters given they don’t actually seem to have bothered setting the GC up on zwiftpower…
Eric… se if you can help.. sent this today.. hope its legit.. but i am 3asily fool3d
Looks official to me, man! I would certainly respond to it.
Thanks Eric… I truly hope so… would bring a ray of light to a troubled year… thanks for your input 👍 and congrats to everyone that completed the routes.. tough challange.. see you all on Zwift soon.. promise not to use an ebike on Zwift 😂