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First launched in 2017, Tour de Zwift is the biggest annual tour on the platform – a celebration of discovery across all Zwift worlds!
This year’s tour has just been announced. Beginning January 5, it consists of six weeklong stages spread across Zwift’s worlds. Each stage offers three group ride options of varying lengths, a race option for those who want to go all out, and two run options. The Ultimate Challenge has also returned, with bonus XP and a big prize giveaway.
So grab a friend and explore! Here’s everything Zwifters need to know about this year’s TdZ.
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/tourdezwift2026
Stage Details
Ride stages can be completed on demand as a solo effort, or join a group ride or race to complete them with friends. Group rides are available in three lengths, and races use the same route as the “short” group rides.
Group rides and races are scheduled every hour, except during the makeup week, when they’ll be scheduled every 30 minutes.
Run stages can only be completed in events. Short Runs are scheduled hourly on weekdays, while the Long Runs are scheduled hourly on weekends.
Here are the route details for each stage:
Stage 1 (Jan 5-11): Makuri Islands
- Long Ride: Shisa Shakedown (53.3km, 557m)
- Standard Ride: Chasing the Sun (35.1km, 316m)
- Short Ride + Race: Turf N Surf (24.7km 198m)
- Race Powerups: Feather, Draft
- Long Run: Fine and Sandy (10.8km)
- Short Run: Castle Crit Run (5km)
Stage 2 (Jan 12-18): France
- Long Ride: Knights of the Roundabout (54.4km, 359m)
- Standard Ride: Three Musketeers (37.8km, 193m)
- Short Ride + Race: Hell of the North (20.1km, 241m)
- Race Powerups: Feather, Draft
- Long Run: Ven-10 Run (11.4km)
- Short Run: Rapide Run (6.1km)
Stage 3 (Jan 19-25): Innsbruck/Yorkshire/Scotland
- Long Ride: Innsbruck After Party (37.1km, 657m)
- Standard Ride: Yorkshire Double Loop (29.6km, 547m)
- Short Ride + Race: BRAE-k Fast Crits & Grits (22.1km, 243m)
- Race Powerups: Feather, Anvil
- Long Run: Outer Scotland (11.4km)
- Short Run: Queen’s Highway (5.7km)
Stage 4 (Jan 26-Feb 1): London
- Long Ride: Triple Loops (41.4km, 569m)
- Standard Ride: Greatest London Flat (31.1km, 223m)
- Short Ride + Race: London 8 (20.9km, 223m)
- Race Powerups: Feather, Aero
- Long Run: Classique (11.1km)
- Short Run: ZG25 Climb Champs (5km)
Stage 5 (Feb 2-8): Watopia
- Long Ride: Tour of Fire and Ice (28km, 1187m)
- Standard Ride: Glyph Heights (33.9km, 618m)
- Short Ride + Race: Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop (19.3km, 157m)
- Race Powerups: Feather, Anvil
- Long Run: Surfin Safari (10km)
- Short Run: Titans Run (6.6km)
Stage 6 (Feb 9-15): NYC/Richmond
- Long Ride: The Greenway (36.8km, 292m)
- Standard Ride: No Sleep Till Brooklyn (32km, 247m)
- Short Ride + Race: Richmond Rollercoaster (17km, 169m)
- Race Powerups: Draft, Anvil
- Long Run: Toefield Tornado (10.3km)
- Short Run: Prospect Park Loop (5.5km)
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/tourdezwift2026
Make-Up Week: Feb 16-22
If you miss any group stages, they will all be available to ride during the make-up week. During this week, make-up rides are scheduled every 30 minutes, with each stage following the next every half hour.
Racing GC
Riding the Tour de Zwift races? There’s a time-based GC you access at zwift.com/racing/leagues/tourdezwift2026 to see how you rank against others.
Peak Zwift Day
On Tuesday, January 20th, Zwift is planning a slate of events led by pros, creators, and other Zwift legends. The goal? Wall-to-wall Zwifters all rolling out together in the biggest rides of the Tour.
The full ride leader list is still to be confirmed, but here’s what we know right now:
- Eric Min – @ 3:00AM PST | 9:30PM ACDT | 11:00AM UTC
- Lucy Charles-Barclay – @ 4:00AM PST | 12:00PM UTC
- Lionel Sanders – @ 10:00AM PST | 6:00PM UTC
- Sam Laidlow – @ 9:00AM PST | 5:00PM UTC
Registration
To register, just join an event! See all events at zwift.com/events/tag/tourdezwift2026.
Tracking Progress
This year, your TdZ progress can be tracked in-game. Just click the TdZ card on your homescreen, and click the trophy cup at the top-left:
This progress page summarizes which stages you’ve finished, which unlocks you’ve earned, and your progress toward The Ultimate Challenge.
Unlocks
Riders and runners will unlock items progressively as they complete TdZ stages:
- Party Shadess: 1 stage
- Party Cap: 3 stages
- Ride Kit: all 6 stages
- Run Kit: 1 stage
To complete a stage, simply finish one of the group rides, races, or runs.
The Ultimate Challenge
Just like last year, this year’s Tour includes “The Ultimate Challenge.” This is for riders only, and completing the challenge requires you to complete all 18 routes featured in this year’s stages.
Related: Tips and Tricks for Conquering the Tour de Zwift 2026 Ultimate Challenge
Note: Zwift and our ZIMetrics estimate it will take riders ~21.5 hours to complete all 18 stages at 2 W/kg.
Completing The Ultimate Challenge earns you bragging rights, bonus XP, and a backwards version of the After Party cap:
- 9 Route Bonus: 500 XP
- 12 Route Bonus: 500 XP
- 15 Route Bonus: 500 XP
- 18 Route Bonus: 11,000 XP + Backwards After Party Cap
The Ultimate Giveaway
Finish the Ultimate Challenge for a chance to win a one-of-a-kind TDZ x Pedal Mafia Zwift Ride Smart Frame!
Pedal Mafia Kit
The real-life version of the in-game kit is now available from Pedal Mafia. Click here to shop now >
Questions or Comments?
See Zwift’s homepage for all things TdZ at zwift.com/tour-de-zwift.
Questions or comments? Post below!
Happy new year! Thx for the detailed info!
I’ll try the ultimate challenge. 12500XP is too much to leave uncollected.
If I remember from last year, the routes can be completed at any time, even when is not the correct week. Is it still the case?
Reading through the article it appears that for the first time all TdZ stages can get completed on demand, not just for the ultimate challenge.
Yes, that’s still the case, Simone.
Can somebody tell me how I can complete stages on demand? When I log in, I can only see events, the Tour de Zwift stages don’t appear as routes. Many thanks in advance.
Because TdZ hasn’t started yet. The first ride starts in 9 hours (in 8h 35m to be precise) and I reckon that’s when routes are available for on demand.
Would like to know this too?
Many thanks for the overview! Can the rides be done in ERG mode?
Should be able to since you can do them as a solo effort. Just start the route and then open up a workout from inside it (tap the screen to get the menu button -> Menu -> workouts (on the righthand side of the popup)).
Cheers
where did you read that you can do the routes as solo free rides and they’d qualify?
Right at the top. Same as last year. “Ride stages can be completed on demand as a solo effort.”
Is it required to register for the Ultimate Challenge, or the game will just identify when you ride any route that is also buried somewhere in the TdZ calendar? Can you only solo ride a route that is currently in that week’s event calendar — for example, can I ride Richmond Rollercoaster on this coming Monday, and it’ll count?
Registration not required, and you can ride any route of TdZ on demand whenever you’d like.
Hey @Eric Schlange – if we can ride the routes “on demand” should we expect to see a TdZ banner on the “splash screen” once we log into Zwift?
I’m sure the homescreen will have a giant Tour de Zwift banner for everyone starting this Monday, if not sooner!
Perfect, thx @Eric Schlange !
Ok, but I noticed that the TdZ is has a Challenge Tile, and the only Free Rides you can select are for this week’s routes. We’re sure that just free riding any route that is going to get used for Weeks 2 onward, will qualify toward the Ultimate challenge? In other words, is there a necessity to go through the TdZ Challenge tile in the game to get credit?
No, I can select future stage routes from the Challenge tile just fine. Just did it!
I have the same question: How can I ride the solo tours so that they count? Do I just select the routes of the respective stages and ride each one all the way through once?
If the same as last year, you need to ride the route thru the Tour of Watopia page. You can’t just pick the ride from the route options and expect to get credit. If you see the Tour of Watopia banners in the game, I think that means you did it correctly. Otherwise you’re just free riding.
Tour of Watopia?
First sentence after “Stage Details” says that any stage can get completed on demand.
Cool. We’ll see if this is thru a special TzZ section in the game app in order to easily identify which have/haven’t been completed.
I suppose it’d behoove community ride and race organizers over the next few weeks to focus on using these routes in their own events, right?.
The ultimate challenge must me done only on group rides? or can it be done solo?
Can be done solo.
Why does Zwift make it so difficult to find information on this ride, their biggest event of the year? Zwift Insider is the only place I was able to find this run down. Baffling.
Exactly! This very topic is all over in the Zwift forums as well, with many expressing frustration. Speculation is the entire staff is out for the holidays. Thanks for keeping us informed @Eric Schlange!
11,000 xp is that a typo? Seems a little out of proportion with 500, 500 then 500
Not a typo!
Any word on double XP for each event?
This tour never had Double XP. Only Tour of Watopia/Unlocked has it.
You approx. have double XP if you complete all 18 stages (12.500 bonus xp / close to 700xp bonus per finished route). I know this is not possible for everyone, but for those who have the time.
Please, sir, can I have some Imperial measurements? (Okay okay without clicking or doing mental math. I know, it’s 5:3, carry the one…)
Also, no socks? That’s a shame.
“Rule #24: Speeds and distances shall be referred to and measured in kilometers. This includes while discussing cycling in the workplace with your non-cycling coworkers, serving to further mystify our sport in the web of their Neanderthalic cognitive capabilities. As the confused expression spreads across their unibrowed faces, casually mention your shaved legs. All of cycling’s monuments are measured in the metric system and as such the English system is forbidden.” 😉
The adults don’t bother with silly rules….
Remember to pick a fully upgraded entry-level bike to get 5% addition when finishing the 18th route to make gain additional 550 XP on the 11,000 XP folks!
Wait, is that a thing?
To my surprise not only the usual 20xp/km went up to 21xp/km, route badges, bonus xp for the streak, all kinds of challenges, weekly routes etc. also get the +5% xp boost, so I suppose it will be working here aswell!
But a fully upgraded entry level bike is slower than a Specialized one – if you calculate by hour, I guess I cover more distance per hour on the Specialized, so overall XP is the same? Or is it still worth to ride the entry level bike?
The fast bikes aren’t “5 % faster”, so it’s still worth using the entry level bike if you are XP hunting. For this particular challenge, you could also take a quicker bike and just use the “slower” entry level bike to finish the last stage for the 11,000 XP and the 550 XP bonus of the bike.
200IQ move!
Smart! Too late for me, as I haven’t ridden any entry level bikes since upgrades were introduced (didn’t see any point, until now). It takes 800 km to fully upgrade a road bike from scratch, and all 18 rides in this challenge add up to 575 km, so tack on another 225 km additional riding. May be quicker with a climbing bike
Referring to upgrading of entry level bikes only, of course
If you can ride 800km by February 22, you can put off one of the rides until the last day of the make-up week… Or you can just settle with the “measly” 11,000XP, of course.
If you pick an elevation-based entry level bike (such as the Trek Emonda SL), you only miss ~800m of additional elevation, instead of 225km additional riding.
May I buy you a pint?
This is like next level genius… thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing this tip. I decided to start upgrading an entry level bike at the beginning of TdZ with the plan of getting the 550 extra XP on top of the 11,000. I got the final 2km I needed this morning to get my Parlee to level 5, then completed my 18th and final TdZ route and got the 11,550 XP. Woohoo! Gamifying things like this make my training that much more enjoyable.
A challenge kit, like last year, would’ve been the beans, but obvz doing it anyway for the sdrawkcab pac and the xp
In the companion app I only see one option for the run. There isn’t a long and short available?
Looks like the Long Runs are scheduled on weekends, short runs on weekdays.
Thanks so much, that information is in the event description too. I need to read a bit closer next time.
I’ll be doing the extra-ultimate version: all 18 routes and all 12 runs. Santa brought me two new pairs of Hokas to help with my resolution to ride 10,000 km on Zwift and run 1,000 miles this year.
Humpf, bonus xp …. no use for that.
Considering all of this will go toward eventual new levels, there is really no such thing as bad XP – it accumulates within your total rider XP, so it just means more accelerated leveling when those arrive. I have been max level for ages now, too, so as much as I would love new challenges or other things to chase (aside from a couple more max level bikes), XP is never really useless. New levels may be coming soon though! 🙂
Also, still so few riders are maxed out, so the vast majority of folks will love the bonus XP. Good enough for me.
Please no more delayed leveling up scheme. Either bump us to whatever level according to xp, or maybe bump us 1 level every time we start to ride as long as we’ve got enough points.
And give away all incentive to ride? I suspect not. 🙂
Zwift rarely gives anything to us for free – they need to keep you riding! I think the fact outdoor rides count now is actually pretty neat, so leveling should be easier than ever albeit not free. 😀
I simply want to get to the level I deserve because I have already done the required effort. I needed 1.6M XP to get to L100 when 1M was enough. That’s what I find off-putting. I cancelled my account for 6 months after maxing out. I would do it again.
Ultimate Challenge for me. Last year, I got the full kit, despite knowing nothing and just having started a couple weeks prior. Thought I was gonna kick it on the Queens Highway After Party.
Also, that Pedal Mafia Ride is something else.
8/18 done. Got some climbing ahead. Tron moved up to level 1 upgrade. Let’s go.
And completed it today. With a 1:00:49.7 run up the AdZ, which probably could have been under 1:00 but I was on the Zwift Aero instead of the Aethos. Did nab the full bonus XP on the miles, the first time route completion, the XP in exchange for the duplicate spin on the Wheel, and the completion of the Ultimate.
great event. Brought out new heights in my riding, and filled up my January. On to the Zwift Games!
Hell of the North again so soon as a race? How about some variety?
Okay so they are creating an artificial peak zwift day with extra incentives to ride instead of in the past it was just organically the peak zwift day, so the numbers for that day will likely not be directly comparable to previous peak zwift days. Which means we will lose one way to have an insight into how zwift is doing.
Just ride ya bike and all is well 😎
I’m not allowed to care about zwifts numbers? Many people do. zwift insider and gplama and dcrainmaker usually post articles each year about peak zwift, so there is certainly a lot of interest in it.
I’m confused on the Short Ride + Race, do I need to race or can I just do the route solo at my own pace?
Short group rides and Races are two separate events in TdZ. But they both are held on the same routes.
Will the race series have the per race XP bonus as well for this set, or will that be on hold this series?
You don’t need to do the race, you can do it as a solo free ride
Or, you can do as I do, and enter the “race,” then ride my own pace, which is slow. 😃
Do I also get the XP points of a route if I haven’t driven them before, so the normal points after completing them when I first drove them?
Yes, if there’s a TdZ route you don’t yet have a badge for, and you do it as part of TdZ, you’ll get the badge and XP bonus.
Thanks for the reply. I’m going to do the Ultimate Challenge and I’ve already calculated the entire XP for myself. Approximately 35,190 XP and will range from level 38 to just before level 43. I’m already happy.
Ride on 👍🏻
You can enter a ride (not race) as a late join and still get credit, badge, and bonus. This is a great way to ride the Ultimate challenge and ride as little as possible. Last year I did all of the short routes and a late join into the long rides back to back.
I haven’t ridden the Alpe since 2022. Maybe this will be the year to do it once more.
Why are Tour stages not every hour? Sometimes some hours are missing, for example Monday 5 January 8PM at GMT+1. The rest of the day, there is a possibility to ride every hour. Will these show up later, or are only races available at these hours?
If I race a stage, do I need to do it again as a ride in order to remain eligible for the Ultimate Challenge?
You do not. Completing the route once, via any method, is all you need to do.
Today, the pacer bot Bernie was on Greatest London Flat.
I joined alongside her for the final 8kms of a lap and then continued on for a further full lap and yet, I didn’t get TdZ credit.
Can people in the trial period participate in the tour?
Yes.
What’s the backwards after party hat look like? Since ZHQ has provided zero info about anything directly..
Like the After Party hat. Except backwards. 😜
(It’s shown above under “Unlocks”.)
That be a cool IRL purchase as well.
I assumed that was just the “Party Hat.” Is this the first forward-brim baseball cap in Zwift? All the other forward-brim hats I’m aware of are cycling caps.
Hi, first year here 🙃 so just to confirm when it talks about the ultimate challenge being all 18 routes does that mean the Long ride, standard right, short ride for each stage? Thanks!
You have to complete the short ride& the standart ride& the long ride for each stage. Then you have done the ultimate challenge
I may have missed this. Is there the extra XP for racing? I assume this is the Z racing series this month
I don’t think so. This replaces ZRacing, but I’m not sure it has the same bonus XP setup.
The front of those big group rides is always a race anyway. So I was wondering if there was a reason to wait 10 minutes.
True. Getting in there early during the event cycle usually leaves a good distribution of rides at all speeds. IIRC, even when riding event routes solo (assuming they are not event-only) gives you access to any other rider actively in that world at the time, so at least you are never alone! 🙂
Do you have a link for the Leaderboard like the one you linked for Fresh Outta 25 leaderboard? Thanks for all your great work
Here you go: https://www.zwift.com/racing/leagues/tourdezwift2026
Once again, like the past 5+ years the ‘Long Ride’ will have better ‘racing’ for advanced/700+ riders than the actual ‘Race’. Why Zwift continues to insist on pointless short races for their advanced races is mindboggling. They insist that racers want to spend 1 hour max on a race including a warmup and cooldown. Meanwhile there will be 100 times more riders completing the long and standard rides than the short ‘race’.
There’s only one run option showing for me for week 1.. seems the long run has gone missing unless the plans have since changed..
Long run is only on Saturday and Sundays. Weekdays are only short run. I made the same mistake and then looked at zwifthacks to see the different routes for the runs.
There is nothing for category D this year.
Sounds like you don’t understand how TdZ works… 😉
Be nice. 😉
[To answer], A-C aren’t speeds in these cases but lengths, so even if you’re a D rider in a race, you’re welcome to go long in A or short in C (or middling in B)!
So I could complete the tour in a couple of days if I wanted to sole ride all the routes?
Yup! Read more at https://zwiftinsider.com/ultimate-challenge/
Is there a page like previous years where I can see all the stages, the routes for each stage and sign in to specific days and times in advance?
There is not. But here are some links just for you!
Thanks! Relly helpful. I signed up for all 6 stages.
Oops, I was wrong. Look what Zwift just launched! https://www.zwift.com/tour-de-zwift
do i need to to the short bike and race or one of the two?
Just one of the two. Or free ride the route!
If I complete some of the routes by choosing the free ride option will these count for the Ultimate Challeng or must the rides be Group rides and Races?
Reading below looks like any ride counts, cool.
Free ride counts for the Ultimate Challenge.
did s1 Standard with a Scott Addict selected, but it appeared a Zwift Steel was defaulted. That is fine, except I did not get credit for the miles. Fresh Outta also defaulted to Zwift Steel, but I got credit for distance … I am level 100 and have earned all the route badges and performance awards, except the frame upgrades, so the frame upgrades are an extra incentive. is the only bonus the one one you describe (speed/xp) for an already upgraded base Zwift bike?
The XP bonus is awarded for completing the challenge regardless of the bike you ride. The fully upgraded Zwift bike gives you 5% bonus XP which is also applied to the 11,000 XP bonus. Congrats on getting all route badges! As far as not getting credit for the miles, I suggest reporting the issue to Zwift support.
I would love to be able to complete the rides as workouts. I just started a workout plan that goes for the next four weeks and it would be great to be able to combine them with these TdZ rides as solo rides.
You can.
Why doesn’t zwift make heart monitors mandatory for racing in their series? If you can afford thousands of dollars on bikes and trainers and $200 a year on zwift subscriptions, you can afford $30 for a HR strap.
Probably the same reason I stopped requiring HR for the Tiny Races… because nobody is checking HR data against power data to see if someone is “coasting”or somehow checking, so what good does it do to require them?
(Also, some riders don’t use HRMs, so why not allow them to race as well?)
My connection to my HRM is wonky. Sometimes seamless, sometimes it just drops.
Hmm the ultimate giveaway not eligible in Sweden for example but still in other EU countries, I wonder what issues there is? Made me less interested to do all 18 for just the backwards cap😃
What exactly is considered a Zwift entry level bike ?
Scroll down on this page to find the list… https://zwiftinsider.com/bike-upgrade-details/
Hi,
yesterday I have made the 1st ride – Chasing the Sun. Today when I click in the TdZ banner I can only choose between 3 rides in France. If I complete now Shisa Shakedown and Turf N Surf apart from TdZ will it count? Do I have to ride one for each stage to unlock and then free ride those routes?
EDIT: OK i See now the numbers at left 1-6… sorry 🙂
Yes, it will count!
Once you complete a route from the stage, Zwift marks it as completed and automatically advances to the next stage. In your case you need to select stage 1 again and ride the remaining routes. You can free ride the routes in any order.
I’ve been invited to a Chasing the Sun group ride this week. Will this count towards TdZ or does the ride have to start from within the TdZ banner on the home page? Thank you.
You’ll get credit for completing the stage.
What happens if I ride today a course that is from stage 6. For example today I ride the course “Richmond Rollercoaster” that is the short ride from Stage 6 (Feb 9-15)? does it count for the TdZ completion?
You’ll get credit for completing the stage.
Did Zwift finally acknowledge that Paris is dead?
On a group ride with Eric Min, he noted that Paris has been neglected, and seemed like he wanted to give it more love.
building it out to the track in Roubaix would be something.
Hi there! I’d like to complete the Ultimate Challenge this year. If I schedule a club event through the Companion App using one of the TdZ courses, will this contribute to completing the challenge? Thanks
Yup!
Why in a 270-390 category race are there riders with 500 race score winning and several riders with 400+?
Are the TDZ races not actually category enforced or maybe the category shown is not accurate?
Note even on Zwift power the race results are valid.
Annoyingly, ZRS is allowing score decay, so “sleeper accounts” can return after a prolonged break and start with a much lower ZRS, potentially allowing them in lower pens.
Some “sleepers” will do enough in their first race to return close to their pre-break ZRS, but in the meantime, they’ve just negatively impacted the race dynamics in the weaker pen.
Score decay needs to stop and 5mins seed score data needs to stay in place far longer than the current 90 days (the whole ZRS concept as we see it needs ditching too, but that’s a very long moan)!
If I do one of the Tour de Zwift routes as a meetup and not through the Tour de Zwift Portal, will it still count as a stage?
Yes. No matter how you ride the route, it’ll count.
Can you do the tour doing it as a banded meet up?
Yes.
Do all rides appear in the general classification or only those marked as races? I did a stage 1 ride on Wednesday and it isn’t appearing yet, I’ve contacted Zwift and they say all rides count and appear. But I’ve seen other posts online that say only the “race” rides count 🙁
Just races. There’s no such thing as a GC for a group ride!
Are there going to be running options during the makeup week? I thought I would do both runs for stage one on the weekend, but I missed the detail about it being 5km+, shortish runs on weekdays and long runs only on the weekend. I was trying to do all the rides and all the runs, but I may end up at 11/12 of the runs unless there are makeup events for running.
Yup!
do you need to sign up separately for the bike and run tour? i can not see my progress on the running but see the one for bike….
My guess is they’re only showing progress for one of them, and bike takes precedence.
Is there a Zwift dashboard to track progress towards the Ultimate challenge like last year? I know I can keep a tracking myself, but more concerned about any random issue and Zwift not giving me credit for a course I actually have done. Thanks in advance!
It’s all in game. Click the TdZ card on your homescreen and look for the trophy cup…
If I begin a TdZ route as a Free Ride, but then the Group Ride field for that same route catches me…can I then hop into the Group Ride and finish with the group? Or do I need to finish as a Free Ride since that’s how I started?
You’re free to ride with anyone you see on course. (But I doubt you’ll see any TdZ event groups. I believe they’re hidden from public view.)
Thx. That would explain why I never see them on the road!