This weekend is a favorite in many cycling fans’ calendars as the world’s top riders are racing The Hell of the North – Paris Roubaix! With its challenging cobblestone sectors, rabid fans, and storied history, this attritional race is one not to miss.
Zwift is the title sponsor of Saturday’s women’s race, officially titled “Paris Roubaix Femmes Avec Zwift”, and has spun up some epic long races for the weekend to honor the event.
See upcoming Epic Race events at zwift.com/events/tag/prfaz >
Events begin at the top of the hour every hour, Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7.
Each hour alternates between a “standard” race and a “long” race:
Standard Race: 3 laps of France’s R.G.V.
Length: 72.7km (45.1 miles) // Elevation: 399m (1309′)
Long Race: 1 lap of France Classic Fondo
Length: 145.9km (90.6 miles) // Elevation: 1099m (3605′)
More Race Details
These races use category enforcement, so you can only sign up to a category that matches your power numbers, or a higher category if you choose.
For these races, all riders are leaving the start pens together. That means you will start off riding with riders from all categories. Be sure to pace yourself and don’t blow up early trying to hang with stronger riders!
If only Zwift had some mixed gravel/tarmac terrain routes to emulate Paris Roubaix…
Ermm…
What’s with so many odd/poor/repeat route choices for official ZwiftHQ events in recent months?
Most people (or maybe it’s just a very vocal minority) whine and cry when Zwift uses non-pavement surfaces for big events because the roads are “slow” and “boring” so they’re probably just avoiding backlash.
The backlash against unpaved surfaces has always confused me. It adds another variable to the game. I’d be interested to see Zwift go all in on more gravel/unpaved surfaces with new routes and make the decision to choose gravel or road bike similar to that with hills and lightweight bikes. As it currently lies, gravel bikes are almost superfluous. Regardless, it’s basically a hill – unpaved surfaces affect everyone and add another element to the game. Don’t pave the jungle.
Zwift France was “cobbled” together (sorry) in 2020 to allow for a virtual Tour de France. As usual, the world designers did a fantastic job, given the time constraints, and added a series of dirt stubs off the main roads. At the time it was obvious that an expansion was imminent — the stubs would be connected to allow for “Paris-Roubaix”-like routes.
But it’s 2024 now and still no France expansion. Is it really that hard to connect together existing road stubs? Why do the many existing worlds on Zwift suffer from such long-term neglect? And while they’re at it, they could maybe add an extra climb connecting to the climb to Chalet Reynard?
So they can tag this event however they want. But that doesn’t make it Paris Roubaix in any meaningful way.
Just add two to the Ven Top so we can do a virtual Cingles du Mont Ventoux.
HI Eric,
Not seeing the Long Race: 1 lap of France Classic Fondo on Saturdays event calendar. Maybe Sunday? The calendar only post 28 hours out.
Look up events at https://zwifthacks.com/app/events/