Zwift Racing League is underway, and while I missed last week’s race (which turned out to be a good thing, since it was annulled) I was ready to hop on and “give it the beans” for race 2. This would be my first race on a new squad – still under the overall Coalition banner, but now on the “Perception” team racing in the Open Dev Cobalt Division B1.
I’ve raced this route (Innsbruckring) many times, never winning but usually at least surviving to contest the final sprint. I thought I had a pretty good idea how the race would unfold, and it did indeed work out the way I’d imagined… until I hatched my own last-minute glycogen-depleted ill-fated plot.
The Warmup
Before kitting up, I did my standard “this is an important race” prep: chewing caffeine gum and rubbing PR Lotion into my legs. Then I headed up to the pain lab, where I found myself on the bike with plenty of time to spare before the race. I picked Beach Island Loop so I could earn the Route of the Week XP bonus while spinning up my legs. As I made my way around the loop I set up my avatar, changing my screen name and swapping my Zwift Insider kit into the new 2026 Coalition kit (certainly an eye-catching number).
I also set up my bike for the day: the Specialized S-Works SL9 with DT Swiss 85/Disc wheels. My SL9 is only upgraded to level 4, but I did the math, and it’s as fast (or slightly faster) than my fully-upgraded Pinarello Dogma F 2024.
With everything set and my legs warmed up, it was time to join the pens. Let’s race!
Lap 1
Our league has 7 teams listed, but only 30 riders started. The pace was super tame out of the gate, making me wonder if everyone had the same plan as me: to put out as little effort as possible, so I could (hopefully) survive all four Leg Snappers, so I could be in a position to sprint for the win.
I only averaged 224 watts during the first 3 minutes, surfing the wheels. Riders started showing their hands early, including Kristian Miller from TBR, who went off the front for a bit and was easy to track because he was wearing a cowboy hat.
The first Leg Snapper of a multi-lap race is always a bit of a wild card, because you don’t know how strong everyone else is. That was the case in this race, too, since it was my first ride in this league. Would I struggle to keep up? Be able to push the pace on the front? Or something in between?
As it turned out, the first climb wasn’t bad. Sure, the Leg Snapper is always a hard effort. But it’s only 50 seconds long, which is right in my sweet spot. 519W for 53 seconds got me over the top just a few wheels from the front, then I recovered as we descended. I took some time to look around, and noticed that only one of my Perception teammates, Susanne, had survived in the front group of 18. Not a good sign. But there wasn’t much I could do about it, either, apart from not pushing the pace on the front.
Lap 2
A group of 4 riders chased back on, and Perception teammate Jonathan Baker was in that mix, bringing us to 3 riders in the front pack of 23 as we spun our way around the flat portion of the second lap. Susanne was sitting on the front of our group, so I figured she was feeling fresh and confident in her ability to survive 3 more Leg Snappers.
This time up the Leg Snapper was a bit spicier than lap 1. I finished in 51 seconds, averaging 533W, nicely positioned in the top 10 riders. The group had shrunk to 19, and we descended to the flat and finished out the lap, it became clear that nobody was chasing on this time around. Susanne and I were still in the front group.
Lap 3
Kristian from TBR asked how my legs were doing as we headed into the third lap. “Terrible,” I said. “Don’t worry about me. I don’t stand a chance.” I added a ;P to the message to make it clear I was doing the classic cyclist thing, then asked him how his legs were. “Pretty terrible,” he said.
Turns out, we’re both liars.
A few different riders kept popping off the front, and Susanne would often chase them down. I just sat in the pack. No reason to chase down attacks a teammate had already followed, plus most attacks on Innsbruckring’s flat roads are ill-fated anyway. They don’t stick.
I was suprised to see a group of three rejoin us as we neared the bricks leading to the Leg Snapper. The group included teammate Jonathan – nice!
Our third Leg Snapper was the tamest of the race. Nobody attacked hard this time around, but once again the group shrunk, from 23 to 19. I timed my feather a bit later this time, so it finished just before the arch. Averaging 497W for 54 seconds put me just a few wheels from the front. One lap to go!
Lap 4 + Finish
JW Be (Velos) attacked just before the last lap started, but I wasn’t going to chase. (Susanne was putting in some good work at the front to keep the group’s speed high and keep JW in sight, but I was content to leave the chase to the teams with more numbers/strength in the front group.)
As our pack of 18 neared the final Leg Snapper, we were also slowly closing the gap to JW. I was mulling over the finish in my mind, wondering how to best execute it to achieve the highest placing. Should I just sit in and sprint, like I’ve done in the past? Go earlier?
That’s when I realized something: I could launch a double powerup attack in the final 2km by using my aero just before riding through the sprint arch, then using the feather from that arch soon afterward. Did I have the legs for a hard 3-minute final attack?
I wasn’t sure that I did. But I also knew my team wasn’t going to win this race with only two riders in the front group.
Up and over the last Leg Snapper, we set our fastest time of the day: 49s, averaging 549W. Then I spun my legs out and rested as much as I could, knowing I needed every ounce of strength I could muster, whether I was going to sit in and wait for the final sprint, or execute my double powerup attack.
As we neared the sprint banner, I could see that only 12 riders had survived the final Leg Snapper. That was a good thing if I wanted to launch my long attack – fewer riders to chase me. I was still on the fence about whether or not I should do it, but with the sprint banner just up ahead, I made the call: let’s go!
I pushed hard on the pedals and triggered my aero powerup. Not the smoothest, most well-timed launch. But I was all in now! I quickly accelerated from ~38kph to ~50+kph, then steered to the inside of the hairpin with 1.4km to go, my feather now activated, making me lighter and just a bit faster for another 30 seconds.
Unfortunately, as I settled into what I thought was a sustainable breakaway pace, I saw that three riders had gone with me: cowboy Kristian and his “terrible legs”, his teammate J Mahot, and JW Be (Velos). We had a 3-4-second gap to the chasers, but I wasn’t going to turn myself inside out to pull 3 opponents to the podium, so I eased slightly. The TBR boys hesitated on the front, JW Be put in a bit of a pull, then Kristian jumped hard from second wheel and was gone. (He’s got a killer sprint.)
I got out of the saddle and died a thousand deaths just trying to keep the power high as riders from behind began to pass me. Crossing the line, I looked up to see I’d finished 5th.
Watch the Video
Takeaways and Team Result
While it wasn’t the result I wanted, it was fun to be in the position to make the race interesting. Could I have played it differently for a better result? Perhaps. My guess is I would have been somewhere in the top 10 if it came down to a typical short sprint. Or perhaps if I’d waited, I could have followed someone else’s wheel when they went early. Who knows?
What I do know is, I used all my weebles in that final attack. Check out my Intervals.icu W’ chart:
It’s wild how precise this stuff is. W’, if you’re not familiar, is your anaerobic work capacity (AWC) – basically your energy tank for anaerobic work (those extra hard efforts like a Leg Snapper or final sprint). As you ride at lower aerobic power, your W’ refills. And as you ride at higher power, it empties.
So you can see my W’ dipping at each Leg Snapper, then refilling over the easy portion of the circuit that followed. Wash, rinse, repeat… until that final ill-fated attack, which began with my W’ already depleted by ~45%. I really felt like I gave it everything I had in those final seconds, and according to the charts, that’s exactly what happened. I “used up all my weebles,” as Zwift racers like to say! (I actually set a 2026 power PB in the final 5.5 minutes of the race, starting with the Leg Snapper and going to the finish line…)
My Coalition Perception team finished fourth overall:
How about you?
How did race 2 go for you? Did you or your team execute any interesting tactics? Share below!
