How the Race Was Lost: Zwift Games Stage 2 on Scotland Smash

The Zwift Games are upon us, and with them big race packs on fresh routes. Having finished third in stage 1 (read about that here), I had to keep chasing the podium for stage 2, so I entered the 450-570 group once again…

The Warmup

It was Saturday, my long ride day, so I was on the bike early for a 1-hour spin with Coco and friends to loosen up the legs. I dusted off the ol’ Safety Bike, too, wanting to have a little fun since equipment was neutralized for Zwift Games races:

Soon enough, I found myself in the pens, with the countdown clock nearing zero. Let’s race!

Start In Glasgow

Scotland Smash begins with a lap of the Glasgow Crit Circuit, so out of the pens 86 of us headed through the Champion’s Sprint banner and around to the Clyde Kicker, our first incline of the day.

So many riders used their draft boost powerup in the opening minutes of the race, apparently unaware that they wouldn’t get another powerup. Ouch! Gotta read that event description, folks…

I’m not a strong climber, but I can usually punch my way to survival over shorter kickers like the Clyde. 32 seconds at 446W saw me finishing this segment near the front of the group, so I eased up and recovered in the draft as we finished the circuit and headed out to greater Scotland for a big lap.

60 riders left in the front pack.

The Middle Bit In Greater Scotland

The bulk of this route takes place outside of Glasgow as you go around the greater Scotland loop in a (mostly) clockwise direction. We began with the slack ~1.2km climb up “The Cliffs” toward the lap banner, the same climb and banner that would host the finish of the race.

While a few riders went off the front for a bit, this first time up The Cliffs was pretty tame, and I sat in the draft, betting on our group’s ability to pull back any small breakaways. I was trying to race smarter, not harder. To save what energy I could, so I could have maximum energy when I needed it.

Through the lap banner and down “The Postcard” descent, I grabbed a bit of recovery before we hit the Corkscrew Castle climb, where I knew another dig was imminent. Fortunately, this climb is a short one too, only requiring around 20 seconds of well-timed but hard effort:

After a bit of descending and recovery near Nessie’s pond, we hit Breakaway Brae, our next timed climb. Another ramp up in effort, but not hitting the redline. This race was feeling punchy, and not easy, but I definitely wasn’t on the rivet either. (As a point of reference, I averaged 282W in the first 17 minutes of Stage 2 vs 256W in the first 17 minutes of Stage 1.)

48 riders remained as we entered Glasgow again.

Return to Glasgow

With only 5km left in the race, we entered Glasgow for another lap. Would anyone try a serious attack up the Clyde Kicker? I doubted it, as anyone who could go long from there could also go long from The Cliffs climb a few kilometers up the road.

Sure enough, nobody went, and an almost identical effort landed me near the front of the group as we created Clyde.

Descending the Clyde, one “M Robbins” attacked in earnest. It looked like we were going to reel him in, but then he pushed again on the way out of Glasgow, stretching the gap out to 4 seconds before nervous riders began swarming to the front of the peloton as we headed out of Glasgow for the final climb to the line.

There were 43 riders left in the peloton and 1 up the road as we entered our finishing climb. The field had shrunk by 50% since the start of the race.

The Finish

With 2km left, we began the climb up The Cliffs. Robbins was 4s ahead, and one rider (JaRou) jumped off the front to give chase, followed by another (T Totti). I upped my watts a bit when I saw Totti jump, figuring I could grab his wheel for a possible free tow up to Robbins. But JaRou and Totti didn’t put in enough work to fully close it to Robbins, so instead we all blobbed up again, with Robbins holding a 3-4 second gap.

With 800 meters to go, I triggered my draft boost powerup, executing the first step in my grand race-winning plan:

My thinking was this: most riders would hold their draft boost for the final sprint of the race, so I would do something different, using the boost earlier so my legs were fresher heading into the final 15-30 seconds of the race. Then as my draft boost ran out, I would go all-in, rocketing through the pack and off the front, to ultimate glory!

But I soon realized I’d activated my powerup a bit early, and my draft boost ran out with 400 meters to go. I didn’t up my power to rocket through the peloton with the draft boost still active, because I didn’t think I could hold out in the wind for that long. Instead, I sat behind a couple of wheels, waiting for someone to attack hard so I could follow their wheel to get off the front with a bit less work.

One “L Rabound” jumped hard and came around with orange numbers, so I revved it up as well, benefiting from their draft even though I was 5 meters back. We quickly caught M Robbins on the front, and with 30 meters left I passed Rabound… but a the same time I was passed by a hard-charging E Held!

Second place. First loser!

See my ride on Zwift.com >
See my ride on Strava >

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Takeaways

This race felt a lot more like a typical Zwift race, versus stage 1‘s odd “super easy until the final 2km” feel. Scotland is a rolling, pitching place, so there’s always a bit of work to do just up the road, and plenty of places to attack and drop weaker riders.

My Strava power curve showed me hitting lots of new PRs for 2025 in this race, so I was happy with that:

Could I have played the finish differently, for a better result? Perhaps. But it was fun to be a bit contrarian with my powerup usage, and attack early. (Elle Held definitely timed it perfectly, holding those orange numbers for quite a while and slingshotting to victory in the final 30 meters. Well done!)

My 2nd place finish earned me a racing score upgrade from 543 to 550, and a finishing time for the Zwift Games GC of 26:06. That puts me at (wait for it) 1,456 out of 44,598 in the Sprint Classification. Almost on the podium…

Your Thoughts

Did you race Zwift Games stage 2? How did it go? Share your experience below!