Tomorrow a Rapha-powered race series launches on the biggest climbs in Zwift. Three races in three days, with 9603′ (2926 meters) of elevation gain. Are you up for it?
Along the way you’ll unlock the new Rapha Rising kit. There’s also GC competition on ZwiftPower, and a prize giveaway too. This series ticks all the boxes… which is why over 2500 riders have signed up for the first event (tomorrow)!
Categories, General Classification, and More
These events use the standard ZwiftPower categories based on rider FTP:
- A: 4+ w/kg
- B: 3.2 w/kg
- C: 2.5 w/kg
- D: below 2.5 w/kg
There is also an “E” category for women only.
These are doubledraft events with staggered starts, so categories will not be mixing.
A General Classification has been set up on ZwiftPower to rank riders across all three stages. Riders who are registered on ZwiftPower will be listed in the overall GC for the series.
See the GC rankings on ZwiftPower >
Stage Details
See all upcoming events at zwift.com/events/series/rapha-rising
Kit Unlock
Riders will progressively unlock the 2022 Rapha Rising kit as they complete stages:
- One stage: 2022 Rapha Rising socks
- Two stages: 2022 Rapha Rising cap
- Three stages: 2022 Rapha Rising kit
Prize Drawing
Rapha will be holding a prize drawing for those who finish all three events. Enter the drawing via Rapha’s website for the chance to win the grand prize: a £1,500 voucher. Alternatively, you can receive one of five runner-up prizes of a £500 voucher.
Restrictions may apply. Stay tuned for more info via email upon completing one or more stages. (If you don’t receive emails from Zwift, find out how to change your email preferences here.)
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
Nevermind. These actually do start tomorrow for early Aussie riders.
Or people in California. 🙂 First race is 10am tomorrow for me!
I more meant that originally Rapha said it was a Friday, Saturday, Sunday event, but Friday morning for Aussies is like 2pm here in Chicago. Extra time for US folks.
Completing a stage twice count towards the unlocks?
You can do a stage as many times as you can, but it will only get you one unlock per stage
This one is going to hurt, but you’ll earn a unique kit that few folks will have!
13000 signed up for Stage1 so far, so not that unique I’m afraid.
Good point Tony, but signing up vs. the number that actually complete it will be quite interesting.
Exactly. We’ll see how people feel about La Reine after the Alpe.
Agreed, I’ll defo be there.
Really wanted to do this but away for 36 hours over weekend and no catch up stage!
It’s a race series, so offering make-up stages wouldn’t make sense, right?
you can do multiple stages in one day
Bummer… I want to do this, but I have to do 4AM EST rides on workdays…
I’m assuming I can sign up for any races at any time and be included in GC? I don’t have to race at the same time for each stage, do I?
It looks like you can race any time you’d like.
Can you ride Thurs, Sat, and Sun or does it have to be on consecutive days?
Just as long as you do all three stages… that’s all that matters.
Looking forward to it, first stage tonight at 21:00 CET and all the climbing meters aiding me with project Tron…. should get me to over 90% 🙂
Hi Eric. I was wondering whether you plan to address the recently made public Zwift exploit that allows users to change weight within an event and remain undetected. Apparently, Zwift was aware of this for at least two years and did nothing. More recently someone lost patience and published a blog about it, i.e. blew the whistle, and got banned for speaking up.
banned from where?
Banned from Zwift for 30 days, and the Zwift Racers facebook page.
banned from zwift. what a joke. Just open another account.
Given the person writes articles published on this site I imagine this could be a “hot potato”; support contributors to this on one hand and annoy Zwift by giving it further publicity on the other.
Does anyone know if double XP is only earned for this with the TT bike?
If I’m B on zwift power, barely, do I have to enter B on these races? I assume so, I will be in the back of the packs of B as I’m barely 3.2
If you want to be listed in the GC then you need to use your correct category as defined by Zwiftpower, otherwise you will be DQ’d from the GC.
I’m in the same position, albeit a full step lower, where I’ve only recently bumped to C class and I always do 10-15 mile races that are rather flat so my numbers for these 3 rides will definitely be D category but I signed up for C so I’m not DQ’d. Regardless, I just want to finish all three rounds as a challenge to myself.
I believe the level takes the length of the ride into account. So if you do the Four Horseman at 3.9, you are probably going to be in the “A” category whereas if you do a 10 mile sprint at 4.1, you would be in the “B” category. I’m not positive, but there is probably an algorithm that decides your correct W/KG based on your 1 hour FTP.
When I look at the standings on zwift power, no matter which category you rode with, it lists you in the correct category based on your performance. Many in my B group got pushed to the “A” category and many to the “C”. In regards to the GC, I don’t know how that would work if you rode one event in “B” range and another at a different level. Perhaps your GC would be from your highest ride. So if you rode one event in the “B” range and 2 in the “C” range, your GC would be in the “B” category.
Riders joining categories below their assigned cat will be DQ’d. I don’t know if that means no credit but you’re not going to get GC placing.
Wondering what happens with someone’s GC rankings, if they get bumped up a Category while doing any of the events (and do the other events in the new category)?
So say, someone is a B on ZP, does Stage 1 and gets notified that they are now an A. So they proceed to do Stage 2 & 3 as an A.
I was ”C, almost B” before Stage 1 and leveled up to B after the Stage and I can’t see my results in GC.
Hmmmm, finished first stage but didnt get the kit unlock. Logged out and back in and still nothing. Anyone else have that issue?
Same her.
Same:(
@dan man: You only get the kit after finishing all 3 stages (the socks are for 1 stage, cap for 2, kit for all 3)
Iv just complete Rapha rising stage 1 and havent received any socks on my account
Same here, zwift will fix it
Same also here. Have anyone got those? Did we do something wrong?
same, mine also says 0/3 events completed
Now I got those. About 9 hours after the race
I’ve never raced on Zwift and after signing up for the event I saw no link to riding the Road To Sky so I thought you just ride it like any other day and it counts towards it. Guess I’m missing something. Oh well, since I already have the wheelset, it gave me 250XP and it was my 18th descent. That works.
ascent lol
I don’t know why I like the kit so much, but damn I wish they made the jersey IRL.
These races are FULL of sandbaggers: A Cat A race was won with 6.9w/kg averaging 95 bpm HR; Cat C races are won in 4.5w/kg, a Cat D race was won with 5w/kg, the rider weighing 30kg.
When I look at zwift power, the standings put the people in the correct category. My “B” ride have A, B and C finishes all based on the w/kg. That being said, I would prefer it if “A” riders did not ride with us. We had nearly 60 who ride the “B” category that were moved to the “A”.
Hey there I don’t get it. It says it is a challenge not a Race Series. (Not Finishline Flag at the sign in at zwift companion.) And I don’t want to do those events as a race just endurance training. So What happens if I sign up at the wrong category? I’m barely B (3,25 w/kg) and stand no change against “real” B’s. And as I said only want to do this as training.
Nothing will happen. You just ride at your pace and will likely be dropped by the Bs. If you are signed up in ZP then you will be listed in the ranking of that Cat but you don’t need to race. You should pick the pace group that you anticipate riding with instead of the B if you don’t want to ride the B pace.
Has this kit been released before? I saw folks wearing it on the downhill after making the summit. Finished Stage 1 and was awarded the socks immediately BTW.
Tomorrow’s gonna hurt!
Is there a catch up like on the tour?
Unfortunately not – it’s a race series with a general classification within ZwiftPower although there has been a bit of ambiguity about the event (group ride vs race) to say the least!
Zwift did a very lame job of communicating this ‘Challenge/Race’ on the signup link. BS
Is a ZwiftPower account required for the rides to register? How and where would we receive recognition of completing all three rides? I did Stage 1, then discovered ZwiftPower. Signed up for that immediately after the ride. Did Stage 2 today. Planning on Stage 3 early Sunday.
It’s not required to register but is necessary if you want to appear in the general classification at the end of the series. Unfortunately as far as I know it’s not retroactive so stage 1 won’t appear on your ZwiftPower account if you registered after completing it.
Got it. I’m ok with that. Will Zwift still pick register doing stage 1 at the end of all this? I still don’t have my socks, but I do have my hat for stage 2. I’ve seen other comments about people not getting the socks. (Issue isn’t the socks – I just don’t want to have to do stage 1 again this weekend!)
If you have completed the stage it should show up of left side of Home Screen and you should receive credit for it. You should also get an email after you complete each stage. If not as long as the activity is in Zwift Companion then Zwift help-desk should be able to sort it for you (and get you the socks!). I had a similar problem last year when I initially wasn’t credited for Haute Route Stage 1. Zwift help-desk were able to sort it though!
No catch up? I missed first one
u can do multiple stages in one day but besides that np
I’d like to do this challenge but have I missed the first stage?
Will there be a makeup day, if I miss a stage?
Just curious. Having seen the results on ZwiftPower, how can someone win the B class with a 6.0 w/kg when the class is 3.2-4 w/kg?
lots of cheating but I don’t get how it got through the ZP system
That’s what I was wondering too. Seems to be achieved by putting in a weight of 34kg (FTP 212), which is a bit light for the ‘Master’ age group. 🙂 If there was an obvious way of flagging it I would have purely out of a sense of fair play. But as I came 103rd… (shrugs)
Yeah, I saw somebody in my C ride with 2,64wkg finish between riders doing 3,3-3,5 wkg. He actually got a 2nd place at ZP, his numbers at ZP stick out like a sore thumb.
In a screenshot with the 2nd stage it shows him with 276w doing 3,9wkg (70kg), and his weight at the finish is 94kg.
What a joke, scrolling through the standings on ZP you can easily spot them.
Is there any hope of doing stage 2 on Sunday? I did stage 1 on Friday, stage 3 on Sat. One sage left but out of sequence…
Looks like there’s no catchup? Ridden route 1 and 3 on Friday/Saturday as there wasn’t even any space in the other rapha races, seems I can no longer do route 2
where would overall general results be?
My name isn’t listed on the GC rankings despite being registered on Zwift Power and my individual results showing on stage 1 and stage 2
Where are you seeing the GC standings? All I see on zwift power are the 3 separate events.
So where is the registration for the drawing? Thanks!
Eric, that was a fantastic event. I hope you plan to do more multi-day events like that which have a combined GC category. The participation was great and the groups I ride with had great praise for it.
On Zwift Power, I see all 3 events separately. Will the GC for all 3 events be posted in zwift power also? It would be great in future events to have the GC standings listed after each event is complete.
I don’t know how difficult it is for Zwift to do events like these, but I hope to see many more. Perhaps even 7 day events.
Keep up the great work!
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Anyone seen how to enter the Rapha Competition? Was expecting a link via email but nothing received other than the ‘Congratulations for completing stage’ email from Zwift…….
EDIT: Ignore me; you have to go to the Rapha website and complete a form….
https://raphacc.typeform.com/to/ZNO87v4Z?typeform-source=www.rapha.cc
Can they all be completed on the first day??