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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 6, it consists of six stages spread across all of Zwift’s maps. Each stage has three group ride options based on how far you want to ride, and there’s a run option for each stage as well.
So grab a friend and explore! Here’s everything riders need to know about this year’s TdZ.
New This Year
Fresh Routes/Badges
New routes will be featured a various stages, and each includes a route badge with bonus XP:
- London Flat (12.4km, 115m) – Stage 1
- Outer Scotland (11.1km, 99m) – Stage 2
- Petite Douleur (25.7km, 387m) – Stage 4
These routes will be permanently available in-game once TdZ ends.
There are also two existing routes that will be getting achievement badges for the first time, giving riders more opportunities to earn extra XP:
- The Magnificent 8 (28.8km, 131m) – Stage 3
- NYC KOM After Party (37.4km, 440m) – Stage 5
The Ultimate Challenge
Can you ride each of the three routes in all six stages? Zwift is throwing down the gauntlet this year, albeit in sort of a hidden fashion, but offering a tracking tool and additional unlocks for those looking to complete every route on every stage of Tour de Zwift 2025. More on that below!
Fresh Kit Unlocks
As ever, there’s xnew stuff to unlock in this year’s TdZ. You’ve got fresh socks, the game’s first-ever beanie, and potentially three different kits: the TdZ Ride kit, the TdZ Run kit, and The Ultimate Challenge kit! See below for details…
Stage Details
Group rides are scheduled every hour, except during the makeup week, when they’ll be scheduled every 30 minutes. Here are the route details for each stage:
Stage 1 (Jan 6-12): Rolling Start
- Long Ride: Makuri 40, 1 lap (40.2km, 307m)
- Standard Ride: The Muckle Yin, 1 lap (23.6km, 282m)
- Short Ride: London Flat, 1 lap (12.4km, 115m) * new route
- Run: Park to Peak, 1 lap (4.6km)
Stage 2 (Jan 13-19): Rolling Heights
- Long Ride: Snowman, 1 lap (44km, 578m)
- Standard Ride: Temples and Towers, 1 lap (33.4km, 280m)
- Short Ride: Outer Scotland, 2 laps (22.3km, 198m) * new route
- Run: Titans Run, 1 lap (5.9km)
Stage 3 (Jan 20-26): Cruise Control
- Long Ride: The Big Ring, 1 lap (51.1km, 270m)
- Standard Ride: The Magnificent 8, 1 lap (28.8km, 131m) * new route badge
- Short Ride: Island Hopper, 1 lap (18km, 128m)
- Run: Queen’s Highway, 1 lap (5.8km)
Stage 4 (Jan 27-Feb 2): Climbs
- Long Ride: La Reine, 1 lap (22.8km, 1,181m)
- Standard Ride: Lutscher, 1 lap (24.6km, 829m)
- Short Ride: Petite Douleur, 1 lap (25.7km, 387m) * new route
- Run: Epic Run, 1 lap (6.2km)
Stage 5 (Feb 3-9): Loop the Loop
- Long Ride: NYC KOM After Party, 1 lap (37.4km, 440m) * new route badge
- Standard Ride: Libby Hill After Party, 1 lap (33.2km, 118m)
- Short Ride: Queen’s Highway After Party, 1 lap (19.9km, 259m)
- Run: Glasgow Crit Circuit, 2 laps (6.2km)
Stage 6 (Feb 10-16): Endurance Quest
- Long Ride: Shisa Shakedown, 1 lap (53.3km, 557m)
- Standard Ride: Coast Crusher, 1 lap (42.8km, 140m)
- Short Ride: Coast to Coast, 1 lap (26.8km, 154m)
- Run: Couch to Sky K, 1 lap (6.7km)
Make-Up Week: Feb 17-23
If you miss any group ride 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.
Registration
Registration for TdZ is now open online and in game. Sign up at zwift.com/tour-de-zwift/.
Unlocks
Riders and runners will unlock items progressively as they complete TdZ stages:
- Socks: 1 stage
- Beanie: 3 stages
- Ride Kit: all 6 stages
- Run Kit: all 6 stages
To complete a stage, simply finish one of the group rides (three lengths to choose from) or runs.
Ultimate Challenge
New this year, Zwift is featuring “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.
Note: Zwift estimates that it will take riders 21 hours to complete all 18 stages at 2 W/kg. This estimate is quite close to our ZIMetrics estimate of 20 hours and 41 minutes.
While completing the regular Tour de Zwift requires you to complete stages in group rides, you can select any of the routes and ride them on demand in order to get credit toward The Ultimate Challenge. Note, though, that your ride must be done after the first TdZ event kicks off on January 6, and before Tour de Zwift ends on February 23.
You’ll be able to check your progress via a personal dashboard at zwift.com/tdz-ultimate-challenge
Completing The Ultimate Challenge earns you bragging rights and the exclusive TdZ Ultimate Challenge beanie (earned at 50% completion) and kit (earned at 100% completion):
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
Yay for new route badges!
You got 3 Stage 1’s
It’ll be like Groundhog Day!
Great extra unlock – I’ve always tried to complete all routes of each stage of the Tours
No XP multiplier on these events correct?
Correct.
Boo!
Without the double XPs, the only motivation to ride this event is three short new routes, virtual gear, and a virtual badge. Oh, and bragging rights, ha! I care very little about accumulating more virtual gear and badges. I’ll complete the new routes but will spend my time training and earning XPs on the new challenges and other events/races that I ride with friends.
Correction… the only motivation for you. 😀 People have different motivations, and lots of folks just love riding in big group rides with hundreds of participants.
But staring at those ugly shorts and beanie is motivation to not do them. That said, I’ve already done two stages. 😂
I’m always confused about Event Only routes’ status after these monthlong events/missions that use or introduce them. Are there routes above that will remain event only after TdZ’25 ends? #BadgeHuntRouteNerd
No, it sounds like all these routes will open up after TdZ. That seems to be Zwift’s standard practice lately…
Any word on if they’ll have an “on demand” option like Tour of Watopia?
You can’t completed the standard tour via on-demand riding. Gotta do it in events.
But you CAN complete the “The Ultimate Challenge” via on-demand, as noted above.
Thanks for the clarification Eric!
How is it possible to complete the ‘ultimate challenge’ via on-demand when the other two new badge routes are locked and unavailable?
I believe tomorrow’s Zwift update to version 1.81 will open up those routes so they can be free-ridden.
Thanks Eric. Nothing annoys me more on Zwift than event only routes that don’t get any published events. Those badges have been hanging about with no purpose for far too long.
Is that only for the week they are running, or could I freeride a route from week 6 also this week ?
You can free ride them now, if you’re wanting to do the Ultimate Challenge.
The Zwift website says:
https://support.zwift.com/en_us/tour-de-zwift-faq-B1bTbNpzJe
Q: Will Tour de Zwift have the option to participate on-demand?
A: There will not be an on-demand option for Tour de Zwift 2025
Looks like Stage 4 is going to where the real party is, no matter how you slice it or dice it.
Disagree. 😋
No IRL kit this year? This one looks much better than last years
Correct, no IRL kit this year as confirmed by Zwift.
Very disappointed that there is no on-demand option – to the point that I may not participate. A weak rider like me ends up riding solo anyway. Just mean not to let me do it at a time of my choosing or as part of a workout.
How I read it: You can ride on-demand, and you can also ride on-demand to complete the ultimate challenge, but you have to ride at least one per stage to complete the Tour itself to get the badge
I’m not interested the ultimate challenge, just the badge. Not being able to do it on-demand changes it from a fun challenge to a chore that I might not bother with.
also, I suspect that the new routes won’t be available yet except for ToW events
There is a ride every hour and I think you can choose a workout even while in a groupride or am I wrong. Have to try….. 😊
Looks like the first time we’ve seen a mismatched pair of socks.
Na, I have several mismatched socks. I think from last year’s tour too. or maybe 2023?
That Ultimate Challenge kit is a massive disappointment
Yeah, It’s the other kit, just a slightly different color…I’m new to Zwift but from some of the larger rides, it looks like there used to be some pretty interesting kits.
I thought the race stages of last year’s TdZ were super-fun and really well-attended. Competing in the overall GC was great too! So I’m super-sad that there’s no Race option for this year!
Yeah – i enjoyed those. Pity. You’d have thought they might need the data (and the ZRS movement of more people into correct pens) ahead of the Zwift Games in the New Year (especially for those in lower pens).
This is a bummer. I just need the Tair Dringfa Fechan badge and it isn’t even part
of Tour de Zwift. 😬
Just gotta race ZRL next Tuesday!
I will race on TP Virtual, but I race only for unlocks on Zwift. I don’t trust their “Performance Verifcation” at all. One person I know who races, I have reported many times for a bunk setup. The cadence and power and heart rate follow a clear software algorithm. “They take these matters seriously”, despite it being obviously computer algorithm data by some intermediary software, since he pays, he races. 🙄
120kg “C” rider who sprints finishes at 15W/kg to take podium. Riiiight.
I have seen enough shenanigans on Zwift racing that I call it for what it is: 🐴 💩
I found several “RIDE” events on ZwiftHacks for that route as recons this week. I scheduled all of them and will just pick one based on my availability – whenever I’m home and not outside riding, instead. The 40F/4C and mostly dry weather lately near Seattle is the ideal environment for me to ride in, so I haven’t been inside Zwifting that much. 😁
I think the widespread perception that cheating of various degrees is common, plus known issues with trainer accuracy, have led Zwift to put more focus on rides, which with riders coffee-stopping up climbs cannot be confused with races.
Bit sad the ‘endurance quest’ routes for stage 6 only top out at 53k. Stage 4 will be fun.
“spread across all of Zwift’s maps” – apart from Bologna and Crit City
My first TDZ stage I ever did Bologna. I think I have only been on that course less than a handful of times in five years. TDZ seems empty without both of them.
I like the ultimate challenge but would like it if you got an extra mission badge. Maybe a new catagorie of mission badges for completing Baseline, Cardio Crusher, Racer’s Edge, Route Chaser… Ultimate challenge….
Agree. That would be a nice option.
As someone who always looks forward to TdZ this is pretty disappointing. Only 6 stages and the long options aren’t even that hard compared to the last two years. That combined with no race option feels like such a step backward.
I’m guessing the long options are shorter, so more people can complete the “ultimate challenge”
Imagine a TdZ the stage with a new “PRL Ultimate” route. It would be described as a PRL Full out-and-back.
To be nasty to ultra riders, it would be an kept as an event only route. They will do it anyways, multiple times, just not a get the @#$^ badge for it.
😝
Would have been great to extend the first stage back to around Xmas Eve.
But what I really miss with many Zwift Tours these days is the lack of official races, I looked through my history and found we had a TDZ race around Richmond UCI back in 4th Feb ’20 etc.
Just to make sure I got it the right way:
To get the ultimate thing I can complete all 18 rides in workout mode between 01/06 and 02/23.
If I also want to have the regular thing, I need to ride one of each stage in a group ride. So group ride counts towards both regular and ultimate but free-ride/workout counts only towards ultimate?
That is correct!
Just to follow up.
If I do my structured TR workout but still joins a group ride it will count towards regular and ultimate?
There are no issue with not following the group in the group ride right?
Right!
It seems you can’t ride with a robo pacer for the ultimate. I did the big ring a few times today & when checking my progress to completion shows I haven’t done the big ring yet. Ah well. More rings
That’s a shame- would have been good if we could make good use of the pace partners to chomp through the ultimate challenge.
Just curious. I’m training for an Ironman 70.3 in July and that means I will have to do some running and swimming when able to fit it in. I see each stage is a week long and there are 3 rides in each stage. The question I have (even though I know a week is not 3 days long so I can get it done in 3 days and still have time to spare) is if the on-demand version with The Ultimate Challenge is like the ToW or ToMI where we don’t have to do it in that weeklong window and can have more time or even get it done faster by doing each stage back to back each day I ride?
Thanks
Correct, you don’t have to do the on-demand routes in that weeklong window. Just have to do them after TdZ begins, and before it ends!
It’s good that there are no x2 experience points this time. Because many of my friends in the last TdW went only in a row the same identical routes every hour just to increase the level. Not participating anywhere else. It looked stupid. And I was one of them 🙂
TdZ is cool! But what’s up with GranFondo this year?
Apparently there isn’t one?
Zwift told me they had so many events planned for 10-year anniversary, etc, that they decided to not do the fondo series.
That’s too bad
I was hoping they’d do a “special” kit for the last event, when I completed all those routes. Doing all the France routes will be interesting. Otherwise nothing too hard.
Stage 5 of The World Series during week 1 as well. Tough week!
Is it me or are Zwift’s Kits getting uglier and uglier. I started Zwift in 2018 or 19 and I am at level 80. I must say the TOW and TdZ kits have just turned F-ugly! They used to be vibrant. Someone needs some imagination in their design department. Even the 100km and 100mile jerseys are lame.
Their 10-year anniversary kit was amazing! But I agree, the TdZ kit is not great. I think the last few years’ TdZ kits haven’t been all that great, really.
10-year kit was amazing, I agree. I can’t really fault the the Turkey Day Kit with Eric Min either, just TDZ and ToW the last few years.
I think it would be great if they redesigned the 100 mile/km kits, and the other reward kits (are there any?) and to get them we have to do the distances again
I was having issues with withdrawal but thanks to nettrace p (at) g ma ilc 0 m for making sure all my pending withdrawal was possible.
Maybe worth noting that Shisa Shakedown is event-only (though not new) and hard to find events for.
If you are not happy with your perf on a specific ride, can you ride it again? If yes, will Zwift take your last ride time or the best time?
Thanks
TdZ is not a race series, so your time doesn’t matter. Just ticking the boxes for completing the events.
Cant see tdz stage 1 in companion
The events are there, starting at 9am PT today. Check your event filter settings?
No Cat D?
Tour de Zwift is a group ride series, not races. Categories in these events just decide which route you ride, it’s not about how strong you are. Each event, as explained above, has three route options: A, B, and C. Long, medium, and short.
These are simply fantastic events!
Hi Eric,
Thanks again for this great piece of information.
I see the distance for the london flat route in this part is incorrect:
Stage 1 (Jan 6-12): Rolling Start
No big deal for me, but just wanted to let you know.
Merijn
Fixed, thanks!
Can you do a group meetup within the TDZ event? I’m wanting to keep a small group of riders connected while also doing a stage of TDZ.
Nope. You could do a Meetup on one of the TdZ routes, and thus get credit toward the Ultimate Challenge – but it won’t count as completing the stage for the purpose of completing TdZ.
Thank you
Is there a way to track your status for completing the ultimate challenge in Zwift that doesn’t involve listing the events in your activity feed. Looks like just the standard challenge is tracked in the event summary
Yeah, go here: https://www.zwift.com/tdz-ultimate-challenge
Any chance of a link to a page in English? Thank you.
Huh? That page IS English.
Mine was coming up in German. Seems it’s not any longer. Thank you? I guess. 🙂
Sorry but I need to ask, “you can select any of the routes and ride them on demand in order to get credit toward The Ultimate Challenge”. Does this mean that club rides on this route counts?
Yeah, they should!
do we get double xp on all rides during tour de zwift or just the tour de zwift events?
Neither! Double XP is a Tour of Watopia thing, not a Tour de Zwift thing.
Ah; thanks, I’ll stop wasting my time re-riding the stages 😀
I rode the the long course of stage 1 (Makuri 40) yesterday. Everyone else started using the coffee-stop, but mine never turned on? It stayed grey as if it wasn’t available. Odd.
Coffee break should absolutely be disabled for events.
Hello Eric, I have a hat fetish (on zwift 😉 can i get the blue beanie after doing any 9 events on any of the stages, so for instance the easy ones on every stage plus 3 others, i’ll probs do them all anyway, but just incase i lose the will to live on stage 4! :-)john mas
No, I believe you have to 9 separate routes to hit the 50% mark on the ultimate challenge. Good luck!
thanks Eric, here’s to a great 2025, as ever you are the place to go for anything zwift! 🙂
So, on the Ultimate Challenge, if I do a workout on Temples and Towers today, that will count toward the UC? I don’t have to do it as a “stage” via the events?
Correct.
Never mind, I tried it and it did, indeed, work as advertised! Thanks for letting us know we can do it this way Eric!
Can you free ride the TDZ routes
The post above explains it…
Hello,
If i do a training based on a route in sprinting or endurance challenge, will it count for thé ultimate challenge too ?
(Sorry for my bad english)
Yes.
Does Late joining let you complete the stage?
Yes.
Late joined Stage 5 Libby Hill After Party today by about 2 mins. Completed the ride, got the route badge & the Stage 5 completion, but not showing ticked off on Ultimate Challenge. Anyone know why this would be?
How does it show up on Zwift Companion if I only do part of a ride?
Something off with the Petite Doleur course? I just completed it outside the TdZ group ride and I got it ticked off from the Ultimate Challenge, but length and climbing was half of what I expected. One lap was 13.9 km and 197 m climb, I got the course badge and it counted towards the Ultimate Challenge. Hope I am not missing anything!
The official Event has a massive lead-in, which ride-on-demand skips.
Can you join a meet up and get credit for the TDZ or only events?
You’ll get credit for the Ultimate Challenge, but not for completing the TDZ stage. Those are event-only.
When are the make up rides going to be posted on the schedule?
Hi, I did Petit Douleur today with a Trainerroad workout and it did not count as completed for my TdZ events? Do you know if workouts do not count? Thanks, Matthias
Workouts should count just fine. You sure you completed the full route?
Yes, did it even twice (in one ride). And the box is checked on the overview page for the ultimate challenge. But companion app still says stage 4 is missing. Strange.
Oh, I see what you’re saying.
You can only get stages marked complete by doing the TdZ actual events. Ultimate challenge you can ride the routes however you’d like.
Ah, I see. Thx a lot :o)
Workouts count for the ultimate challenge but not for the regular TdZ.
02/13/2025 Tour De Zwift ‘C’ ride – Coast to Coast
While all 18 rides have been recorded as complete, the Zwift app crashed at the end of the ‘C’ ride and failed to register on the companion app as being completed and lost the kilometer’s of that ride as well. The ride did show up on my profile:
https://zwiftpower.com/profile.php?z=6021707
The app crashed three times that morning. Warmup, at the end of the ‘C’ ride and a post ride cool-down. I don’t suppose there is a way to research the lack of the ‘C ride deletion & km’s completed of that ride?
Hello guys just checking I read that for the ultimate Challenge you can do on demand does anyone tried this ?
I have one bike ride missing the big climb And I don’t want to do it twice.
For me would be easier to do on demand
but want to be sure
Yeah, I did an on-demand route and it worked fine.
Lots of my routes I did on demand and it worked fine. Got the kit and beanie to prove it 😃