Racing on Zwift isn’t just about putting out big power numbers–it’s also about conserving power so you have it when you need it. Just like riding in real life, the number one way to conserve power is to draft behind other riders.
Thanks to Jonathan Lemon’s race data tools we’re seeing some nicely detailed, very accurate numbers coming out of recent races. Here are the race results for a recent ZTR–the A group results are below:
| Group A | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pos | name | time | watts | w/kg |
| 1 | David Vaughn (ZTR-A) | 1:08:26.7 | 290 | 4.75 |
| 2 | Justin Purificati (ZTR – A) | + :01.3 | 299 | 4.75 |
| 3 | Jeremy Brazeal (Aetna) ZTR (A) | + :19.7 | 284 | 4.42 |
| 4 | Tyler Waldron ZTR-A | + 2:08.9 | 303 | 4.46 |
| 5 | Mat Desrosiers (X) ZTR-A | + 2:12.1 | 301 | 3.81 |
| 6 | Blake Pucsek ZTR A | + 2:21.4 | 317 | 4.17 |
| 7 | Bruno Lafontaine ZTR-A | + 2:24.8 | 298 | 4.38 |
| 8 | Ed ERRACE.org ZTR (A) | + 3:19.0 | 260 | 3.96 |
| 9 | Dan Donovan – ZTR (A) | + 3:51.5 | 304 | 3.8 |
Take a look at Mat Desrosiers in the results above–notice that his w/kg is .36 lower than the guy he finished in front of. And while he finished only 3.2 seconds behind Tyler Waldron, his w/kg was a whopping .65 lower than Tyler’s.
What does this mean? It means Mat did a better job than Tyler and Blake at conserving his energy in this race. My guess would be that he stayed in someone’s draft for the vast majority of the race, and only came out of the draft to make short, hard breaks to bridge to another group or sprint for the finish.
More on Drafting
There are, of course, other ways you can race smarter in Zwift–but using the draft is absolutely the #1 skill you must learn in order to compete.
Some folks are confused about how drafting works in Zwift–but it’s really quite simple if you understand the visual cues. If you are using the default view where you can see your avatar, your avatar will sit up when you are in a group drafting. If you’re in a group and hunched over, that means you’re “pulling” and using significantly more energy than the folks who are drafting behind you.
I’ll have to pay more attention when I race. Thanks for the tip but lets say I’m not drafting when I really think I should be since I’m in the pack what should I do to get into the draft?
Isn’t that the key? Know what to do to get into the draft?
Good Point. Sometimes you just can’t get into the draft and avatar stays to the side in crouched position.
I don’t have a hard time getting into the draft–I think it’s not quite as cut and dried as it might be in the real world (that is, if you’re off to the side you’re not benefiting from it like you would if you were right behind someone).
Since Zwift automatically moves you side to side, my guess is they don’t include that movement in the drafting algorithm, or it’s very downplayed.
Getting into the draft, for me, just means staying in the pack, behind the guys who are in front. That seems to work pretty well for me.
Haha, this is really funny seeing the mention of me on here – the last thing I expected when I clicked on the blog link. Regarding my high w/kg, I wasn’t prepared before the race as to the location of when the neutral start ended and had to chase by myself for several minutes to get to the main pack (3 riders had already broken away in the meantime). I stayed with the pack the majority of the race drafting and then attacked towards the end and rode again for several minutes by myself to 4th place.
Since this was a relatively flat race, is w/kg the best metric to look at in terms of efficiency? If this was real life, it would probably be w/cda, but I’m unaware of Zwift’s algorithm and the weight of w/kg on a flat section.
Hey Tyler–hope you didn’t take my mention of you the wrong way. The fact that you can even hang with the A group puts you in “The Land of Much Respect” in my book!
Re: w/kg vs w/cda, etc… we’re having an interesting discussion of this on the Zwift Riders group. Some say pure watts are a better metric… hard to say, especially since this wasn’t a truly flat race.
Your description of the start of the race for you gives the numbers some context for sure–having to chase at the beginning will bring those avg watts up!
You can look at my test lap data and decide on the weight of w/kg in the flats if you’d like: https://zwiftinsider.com/test-lap-data/
Absolutely not, I just found your blog this week and find it interesting!
Eric, I would think that the wattage is more of an indication of someone who used drafting. First place finished more than a second ahead of second place while putting an average of 9 watts less with the same watt/kg. An higher watt/kg is due to a lighter rider.
Well, I guess that would depend on the course. If it’s flat I would agree. Hilly I think w/kg is a good metric to see who is drafting best.
Do I get a information on screen, when I am drafting or even not?
Use your rider’s posture–see https://zwiftinsider.com/rider-hand-position/