How the Race Was Lost: Zwift Games Stage 1 (Loop de Loop): Dropped On the KOM… Twice

The Zwift Games have arrived, and it’s time to race against some stacked fields! I had the rare opportunity to race (and lose) Stage 1 twice while learning some lessons along the way, and thought it would be helpful to share and compare the experiences.

This stage was held on two laps of Watopia’s new Loop de Loop route, and as it turns out, this is a really fun race course. In two laps you’ll cover 24.9km with 289 meters of climbing, and the route includes lots of places to attack, no boring/flat bits, and a key climb that is just far enough from the finish to keep chasers interesting!

Read on to learn how the B-category races went for me…

The Start

Race 1 began with 200 riders, while Race 2 began with 107. Straight into The Esses, and Race 1 was definitely a bit spicier, with me needing to hold 20W more to hang in the front pack down to the JWB Sprint arch.

The pace was solid, but not crazy. Everyone knew the Hilly KOM up the road would be making the big selections. Still, riders were falling off the front pack as we headed back through The Esses and into downtown Watopia. By the time we hit the downtown banner, race 2’s peloton had shrunk to just 63 riders – 41% attrition, and we hadn’t even hit the Hilly KOM yet!

I’m sure race 1’s pack had shrunk too, but since Zwift only renders the closest 100 riders, all I knew was the pack still had at least 100 riders in it. On to the KOM!

The First Climb

In both races I was well-positioned heading into the first Hilly KOM, just a bike length or two from the front of the pack. This is a classic strategy used by “overmuscled” cyclists everywhere: starting a climb near the front of the pack allows you to slowly drop back in the pack over the course of the climb, while hopefully staying in touch with the back of the pack over the top so you don’t get dropped.

Done right, it lets you stay in touch with the top climbers while putting in a segment time that’s several seconds slower.

In Race 1 I averaged 425W and set a new race PR on the climb of 2:01. And I finished right near the front of the front pack!

In Race 2 I averaged 444W, setting a new race PR of 1:58. But the crazy part is, there were 7 riders who finished a few seconds ahead of me, across a gap that was too large for me to bridge alone! So strong.

That Middle Bit

In race 1, I finished the KOM in a front group of 36, and a group of 17 bridged up to us before we were done with the descent (impressive work, chasers). 1 lap down, and the attrition rate was already at 74%.

In race 2, the group of 7 stayed off the front until I and 10 others caught them as we headed into The Esses. With 18 in the front group, our attrition rate was now 83% with a lap to go.

Nothing remarkable happened in this middle bit in either race. The big selection had been made, legs were tired, and everyone knew the second (and final) KOM would be even tougher than the first.

Sidenote: Powerups

The powerup scheme for Stage 1 was interesting. I loved it, but there were clearly lots of confused riders who didn’t understand what was going on!

We only received powerups at the JWB Sprint arch (so two powerup opportunities in the whole race) and the only powerup given was the Draft Boost.

I saw a lot of racers activating their powerup just before hitting the downtown arch, thinking that arch would give them another powerup. Even in the Elite race (shame on you, elite racers.) Because no: you weren’t getting another powerup at the downtown arch, or the hilly arch. So you needed to be smart about where to use the powerup for maximum benefit.

For most riders in the front group, the smart place to use the first draft boost was probably over the top of the Hilly KOM. This is where your legs would be most knackered, so you could benefit a lot from a bit of a respite as you sat in the wheels.

The second draft boost was ideally saved for the final sprint – but if you needed it in order to hang with a pack over the top of the KOM, you had to make the judgment call to use it or not.

The Final Climb

I started the final climb in race 1 a bit too far back, as the pack surged well before the KOM start line and I wasn’t able to quickly push to the front. This would prove a costly mistake as I hit the KOM arch with a small gap to the back of the strung-out front group. That gap? Just about the same size as my misjudged distance to the front of the group at the start of the segment.

I was better positioned for the start of the climb in race 2, but when we hit the second half of the climb it felt like the 10 riders just ahead powered up as my legs exploded! I went from tailgunning the front pack to 5 seconds off the back in that final 400 meters of Hilly KOM. Ouch. The front riders finished that KOM even faster than the first.

It’s interesting how similar my performances were on the final climb in the two races:

• Race 1, 2nd KOM: 2:04, 417W
• Race 2, 2nd KOM: 2:04, 416W

The Finish

In race 1, I activated my draft powerup just after the KOM arch so it would help me hang onto the snaking line of 7 riders chasing the front pack of 34. Coming into the finishing sprint a group of 32 was on the front chasing the podium, while I was in a pack of 9 fighting over the leftovers. I dug deep, but didn’t have much left. 36th place, 17.31 seconds behind the winner.

In race 2 I crested the KOM in no man’s land, with the front group of 10 too far away to grab with nobody next to me to aid in the chase. But help came soon enough! A train of four zipped past and grabbed on. I hammered to the front on the descent, towing the group as I supertucked for a few seconds, grabbing a much-needed breather. 8 off the front, 7 of us chasing, and 1 in between the packs.

I fancied my chances in a sprint, since I still had my draft powerup. So I didn’t push to get off the front. Instead, I soft-pedaled, sitting in the draft until 300m to go. Then I hit the powerup, powered up myself, and started to hammer!

This sprint felt hyper-focused. I saw a rider just ahead, and sat on his wheel, waiting until I was closer to go all-in. I could also see we were going to catch the lone rider up the road, so I didn’t need to work extra hard to make that happen. Then I poured on what power I had left to come around the rider ahead, coming in first in the chase group… 9th overall.

Race 1 Time: 35:46
See race 1 on Strava >
Race 1 results on ZwiftPower >

Race 2 Time: 36:21
See race 2 on Strava >
Race 2 results on ZwiftPower >

Watch Race 1

Watch Race 2

Takeaways

I thought the two races would be more different than they actually were. But it turns out both races behaved very similarly, and I got dropped from contention in the same place both times!

My race 2 result was better than race 1 – not just in terms of finish position, but in terms of ZwiftPower ranking (166.23 in race 2, vs 256.51 in race 1). My legs were also a bit fresher in race 2. In the end, neither result was particularly good, but that’s not surprising – I do best in flat/rolling races.

Race 1 was a good reminder of the importance of positioning myself near the front before short climbs. This strategy doesn’t do much good on longer climbs, but on shorter stuff it is a super-helpful strategy. I’d say official KOM segments where “sagging” works well include all these shorter climbs:

Your Thoughts

How did you Zwift Games Stage 1 go? Did you sag the climb, or beast it? Share below!