Route Maps & Details for Zwift’s London Course

The London course’s “Classique” route takes you on some of the most famous London streets including Strand, The Mall, Constitution Hill, and Birdcage Walk. You ride by Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace.

It is a precise replica of the Prudential RideLondon Classique route, which is described as “beginning on The Mall in St James’s Park, going up Constitution Hill, turning at the top to come down and on to Birdcage Walk, then passing Big Ben and turning left on to Whitehall and right on to the Strand before turning again to come back up the Strand, through Trafalgar Square, Admiralty Arch and back on to The Mall.”

When choosing this route option in game you will begin near the main start/finish banner, then ride a short warmup before you turn off for the Classique loop, which you will stay on as long as you wish.

The Strava segments below begin and end at the start/finish banner located on The Mall, not the main start/finish banner where the game starts your ride.

Route details:
Distance: 5.4 km (3.3 miles)
Elevation Gain: 19m (62′)
Strava Forward SegmentStrava Reverse SegmentStrava Reverse Segment Leadin from Start Banner

Take a video tour:

London’s “Greater London 8” route covers the mostly flat “greater London” expansion and Box/Fox Hills. It is very similar to the “Greater London Loop“, only adding ~4km of flat roads and covering the greater London portion in the opposite direction.

Route details:
Distance: 23.8km (14.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 256m (840′)
Strava Forward Segment (A reverse version of this segment is not currently set up by ZwiftHQ)

London’s “Greater London Flat” route covers the mostly flat Greater London expansion and most of the Classique route. It is currently the flattest route on the London course.

Route details:
Distance: 11.6km (7.2 miles)
Elevation Gain: 45m (149′)
Strava Forward Segment from Sprint BannerStrava Forward Segment from Start BannerStrava Forward Segment from Start Gate

London’s “Greater London Loop” route covers the mostly flat “greater London” expansion and the Box Hill climb. It is essentially the “London Loop” with ~6km of flat roads added.

Route details:
Distance: 21km (13 miles)
Elevation Gain: 244m (800′)
Strava Forward SegmentStrava Reverse Segment

London’s “Greatest London Flat” was released with Zwift’s February 1, 2018 update and is the longest “flat” route on the London course.

About the Start Point

If you choose this route, the game will spawn you on Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace, riding in what is typically the reverse direction (westward). Since riders are placed at various points near Buckingham Palace on Constitution Hill, we chose to start our Strava segment at the Classique banner which is approximately 1.5km from the spawn point.

Route Details

A free ride of Greatest London Loop begins on the Classique route, but only covers a portion of it before turning onto the Greater London roads. You are then taken over the bridge, through the subway and into the “Richmond Park” countryside which was part of the January 2018 London expansion. The subway tunnels carry you back into London, over the bridge and through the start/finish banner.

Route details:
Distance: 23.57km (14.6 miles)
Elevation Gain: 147m (484′)
Strava Forward Segment

London’s “Greatest London Loop” route takes you on the outermost roads on London’s course, beginning with a flat 13 kilometers through the city then over Surrey’s Leith Hill.

Route details:
Distance: 25.6km (15.9 miles)
Elevation Gain: 345m (1132′)
Strava Forward Segment

London’s “Keith Hill After Party” is a custom route introduced for stage 3 of January 2019’s Tour de Zwift. 

Circuit Profile

This mostly flat route begins in the city with a lap of Greater London Flat roads in the reverse direction, then uses the Classique route to turn around and hit the same roads in a forward direction. Riders are taken back through the start/finish then into the subway tunnels to the countryside, where they finish the route with a climb up Keith Hill.

The route ends at the KOM banner, so more than half the overall elevation gain is completed in the final 4.1km!

Route details:
Distance: 36.2km (22.5 miles)
Elevation Gain: 407m (1335′)
Strava Forward Segment (from start banner)

London’s “Leith Hill After Party” is an event-only route, meaning it is only available for group events. Very similar in profile to London’s “Keith Hill After Party” route, the Leith Hill version has an extra 5km of flat road before the finishing climb.

Route Profile

This mostly flat route begins in the city with a lap of Greater London Flat in the reverse direction, which diverts onto a nearly-complete reverse lap of the Classique route. We do this again (Greater London into Classique), then hit Greater London Flat for a third time, but before we reach the Classique we hang a right to cross the Thames.

Once across the Thames we head through the Underground tunnel, then hit the final climb, Leith Hill.

The route ends at the KOM banner, so more than half the overall elevation gain is in the final 5km!

Route details:
Distance: 46.1km (25.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 411m (1350′)
Strava Forward Segment (from start banner)

The London course’s “London 8” route covers the entire original London course by combining the “London Loop” and “Classique” routes.

Route details:
Distance: 20.3 km (12.6 miles)
Elevation Gain: 238m (780′)
Strava Forward SegmentStrava Reverse Segment

Take a video tour:

The London course’s “London Loop” route takes you along the Thames, down through underground tunnels, and up the Box Hill KOM. If you take the reverse route you will ride up “Fox Hill” which is a shorter, steeper climb than Box Hill.

Route details:
Distance: 14.9 km (9.2 miles)
Elevation Gain: 220m (722′)
Strava Forward SegmentStrava Reverse Segment

Take a video tour:

“London Loop with Box Hill Finish” is a custom route introduced for stage 8 of January 2019’s Tour de Zwift. 

Route Profile

This route is simply the London Loop with a different finish line. The full London Loop takes you along the Thames, down through underground tunnels, up the Box Hill KOM, down Fox Hill, up the tunnels and through the start/finish banner for your next lap. On your final lap of this route, you finish at the Box Hill KOM banner instead of descending Fox Hill.

The longer version of this route is approximately 2.5 laps of London Loop, while the shorter version is 1.5 laps.

Route details:
Distance: 39km (24.2 miles)
Elevation Gain: 625m (2051′)
Strava Forward Segment, 2.5 laps (from start banner)Strava Forward Segment, 1.5 laps (from start banner)

At the time of its release, the “London Pretzel” route was the only route covering all London roads. In fact, it covered them all in both directions. The route leaves off newer additions to the London course, but it’s still a fun one if you’re looking for a longer ride with a mix of flat efforts broken up by two decent climb sections.

Route details:
Distance: 55.6km (34.5 miles)
Elevation Gain: 531m (1742′)
Strava Forward Segment

The London course’s “PRL Half” route is meant to mimic the distance (but not the full course) of the real Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46. It takes you on four circuits of the “London Loop“, then turns around at the Surrey roundabout and heads towards the sprint and finish banner on The Mall.

Route details:
Distance: 69 km (42.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 954m (3,130′)
Strava Forward Segment

The London course’s “PRL Full” route is meant to mimic the distance (but not the full course) of the real Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100. It takes you on eleven circuits of the “London Loop“, then turns around at the Surrey roundabout and heads towards the sprint and finish banner on The Mall.

Although I can’t seem to find numbers for the 2016 course, it appears that Zwift’s version has significantly more elevation gain than the real-life course. (The 2013 course had a gain of 6,167′.)

Route details:
Distance: 173 km (107.5 miles)
Elevation Gain: 2,496m (8,189′)
Strava Forward Segment

London’s “Surrey Hills” route takes you on a complete tour of all the climbs on the London course, riding over each pass in both directions. Since the route keeps you almost entirely off of flat ground, you get a lot of climbing done in just over 40km.

Interestingly, this route begins at a different spawn point then other London routes, facing in what is typically the reverse direction. This bypasses the typical flat London start so you can get climbing quickly!

Once you’re in the Surrey Hills, you will continue to ride this route, never going back into the city or crossing the start/finish banner.

One bummer about how this route works is it dumps you onto the Box Hill KOM after the start line, which means you don’t get credit for that segment.

About the Finish Line

The animated map in the Zwift route picker shows this route ending at the base of the Fox/Leith Hill climbs. But when this route is used for official events, the finish line is the KOM banner at the top of Fox Hill–a very different location!

So we’ve created two Strava segments, one for the “event version” (which we consider to be the “official” version) and one which replicates what the map shows.

Route details (event version):
Distance: 44.1km (27.4 miles)
Elevation Gain: 1029m (3377′)
Strava Forward Segment (Start Pens to Fox Hill KOM)

Route details (free ride):
Distance: 41km (25.5 miles)
Elevation Gain: 881m (2893′)
Strava Forward Segment

London’s “Triple Loops” route is a large loop containing three more loops. First you hit the Greater London loop, then the Classique, then ride over Leith Hill to a loop which includes Box Hill. Then you’re back through the start/finish banner to do it all again!

The route is essentially flat for the first half, then very hilly for the back half. A bit like Zwift’s Richmond UCI course in that respect, except much longer.

Route details:
Distance: 40.8km (25.4 miles)
Elevation Gain: 544m (1785′)
Strava Forward Segment

London’s “Keith Hill After Party” is a custom route introduced for stage 3 of January 2019’s Tour de Zwift. 

Circuit Profile

This mostly flat route begins in the city with a lap of Greater London Flat roads in the reverse direction, then uses the Classique route to turn around and hit the same roads in a forward direction. Riders are taken back through the start/finish then into the subway tunnels to the countryside, where they finish the route with a climb up Keith Hill.

The route ends at the KOM banner, so more than half the overall elevation gain is completed in the final 4.1km!

Route details:
Distance: 36.2km (22.5 miles)
Elevation Gain: 407m (1335′)
Strava Forward Segment (from start banner)