Stop. The. Presses. I won on Alpe Du Zwift!
If you are going to win your first race on Zwift, you might as well win big – but sadly it wasn’t a moment where I crossed the finish line with my arms aloft, celebrating. And I think it’s something Zwift needs to try and address! But more on that later…
The Haute Route Watopia and riding into form
The previous week, I battled the three stages of Haute Route Watopia 2021. I think the courses were fun, challenging, and different. Unfortunately, the entire event was let down by the failure of the “General Category” competition not functioning properly on ZwiftPower.
I never got to the bottom of the issue and despite repeated requests for an interview, Zwift did not respond. The event ultimately left many racers, myself included, very frustrated by the failure of the ‘GC competition’. By the time the results were published a week later, I, like many, had moved on with life and didn’t really care. The whole experience, which was badged as a “GC competition” disintegrated into a farce as you never knew where you were in the competition – it was like racing the Tour de France and no one knowing where they were in the standings until the final results were published, a week after the finish.
It just failed, and this issue with results would resurface later. That said, after racing Haute Route and coming into a bit of form, I decided to have an easy week, recover, and target a quick time up the Alpe Du Zwift.
Target the Mountain
My chosen event was the Road to Sky race by Team3R on Sunday morning (CET). My aim was to try and crack the Alpe in under 40 minutes. I agree, it is an insane target. But in January 2021 I managed to climb the Alpe in 40 minutes and 05 seconds, and was heartbroken afterward when I was told by a fellow competitor that the Canyon Aeroad which I had ridden was no longer the fastest climbing bike in the game and had probably cost me 9 seconds over the Specialized Tarmac Pro. I clearly had missed the memo where Zwift had downgraded its performance stats!
6 seconds haunted me. I had tried several times to recreate the magic of that climbing performance and break the 40 minute barrier, but it proved elusive. I was always a minute or two off and thus I concluded that the time of 40.05 was merely a fluke and had come off the back of the Rapha 500, which I had completed over the Christmas period.
Race preparation
Not to repeat the same mistake in terms of bike choice, I grabbed the Specialized Tarmac Pro and the Lightweight Meilenstein wheels (which I had gained in a previous failed attempt up the Alpe). This was the quickest ‘climbing setup’ according to the stats.
I skipped racing in week leading up, instead undertaking several easy rides with the intention of keeping my legs fresh. Wanting to save every ounce of energy, I did an easy, short, 6km warm-up, then it was off to the start.
The Start
Conscious to conserve all my energy for the climb, I made sure at the start of the race that I immediately got in the middle of the bunch. I didn’t want to be pushing to catch the front of the group so I did just enough to keep within the group as we sped through the Jungle. I noted that the event was well attended with 189 riders, with over 30 in Category A, which I was racing.
We navigated the Jungle, and hit the base of the climb. Then the group exploded.
The First Turn
There is a danger when racing the Alpe that you go too hard on the early slopes then fade away toward the end or worse, completely blow up. The difficulty is that if you go too easy at the start, then your chance of a good time can disappear.
My strategy was to hit the first turn hard and settle into a sustainable rhythm as soon as possible. Two riders pulled away, but I let them go, focusing on my own pacing. I was racing the clock and had decided not to get drawn into racing the people.
I hit the first turn and the Head-Up-Display on the left of the screen noted that I had churned out a massive 360 watts. This was above what I was capable of, and since I knew it was unsustainable, I dropped a gear and began spinning my legs. My usual low cadence of 70 jumped to 80-90 rpm.
During a recent Wednesday “Andy’s Schleck’s Cappuccino Ride”, the Tour de France winner provided some valuable insight into climbing quickly. He said, “to climb quickly, it is best to use an easy gear and have a high cadence and ‘spin the legs’ as this avoids fatiguing the muscles.” I tried to adopt this approach, figuring if I could get anything above my usual 65 rpm that would benefit me.
The early slopes
The Alpe is a long way. I always appreciate the distance climbed but only on the descent because on the way up, I’m too focused on getting to each corner. To that end, the early slopes were a blur, I tried to keep my heart rate below the “red zone” whilst keeping the cadence and power high. On the approach to each turn, I was sure to change down a gear or two and really power through the corner, ensuring I have momentum to propel me forward before once again settling back into the rhythm of the climb.
Having previously failed at trying to break sub 40 minutes, I realized that even 1 second lost on each turn could be costly, so I became focused on making each turn effective. By turn 15 I was outputting around 345 watts, which I calculated might be enough for me to reach my target, if I could maintain it.
Halfway
Halfway up the mountain, I was well into the rhythm of the climb. My heart rate was consistent, my power was steady, and despite being tired, I was still conscious of my surroundings as the ‘red fog’ had not yet descended. This was a good sign.
It was at this point I caught and overtook the second-placed rider on the road. He probably had reached the ‘red fog’ state I had just mentioned, and he had slowed considerably. It meant I was now sitting in second place on the road, with the lead rider some 300 meters ahead and out of sight.
At this point, I realized that I was in unchartered waters. It’s very rare to find myself at the front of a race, hence the typical title of my articles (“The View from the Back”). Yet here I was, halfway up the climb, sitting in second!
I didn’t let the prospect of a high finish stay in my thoughts too long, my target was still the sub 40 minutes and I reckoned that if I could try and manage my effort over the next few kilometers, I might be in with a chance. But it would be close. Earlier, I researched that to reach my target, I would need to be hitting over 5 watts per kilo and this was my current level.
Turn 7 and 6
The long straight stretch between turn 7 and 6 is relentless and for me probably one of the most critical and difficult parts of the race. It’s where fatigue creeps in. With roughly 4km to go, there still is a lot of climbing to be done, you are tired, and now you have to dig deep. Today was no exception.
I pushed round turn 6 but I could tell that the legs were failing. The mind was willing, but the legs couldn’t push the power like before. I could almost hear the late great commentator, Paul Sherwen, offering some sound bite like “Bridge to engine room; more power!”
The Final Turns
I managed to squeeze more power out of my failing legs. For the first time in the race I noted the position and time gaps to my competitors. I could see there were two riders behind me and noted that they were gaining on me. Seconds were being chipped away with each passing meter and as I rounded the last turn, I had a 7-second advantage.
I was now not only racing for my sub 40-minute target, but racing for position. By this stage, I was really hot, the fan offering little respite, so like the riders in the Tour de France, I poured the remaining water from my bidón over my head. Any little help was welcome!
The final stretch
The final push to the finish after the last corner is never ending and the ‘red fog’ I mentioned earlier had engulfed me. I pushed as hard as I could, holding over 400 watts as my heart rate rocketed as I summoned up every last reserve of energy attempting to defend my position on the road.
With 400 meters to go, I was in 2nd position. I kept pushing, but the rider behind was chasing. I could “feel him” and I saw he was putting out a staggering 6.5 watts per kilo. Through sheer panic I somehow managed 6, which at this stage even surprised me!
To force the pace I got out of the saddle to sprint, but had nothing. With 50 meters before the line, the rider sped past me. I was heartbroken.
The results
As I crossed the line, the results flashed up. The first-placed rider didn’t have a heart rate meter. I knew that his results would not count in ZwiftPower and so being overtaken on the line by the second-placed rider was extra-devastating since I had lost out on the chance of victory up the famous mountain. Or so I believed.
The consolation was that I had climbed the mountain in a staggering 39 minutes, 28 seconds. I had achieved my goal! I immediately logged on ZwiftPower to check my data. And I couldn’t believe what I saw. ZwiftPower had me in first place!
“I won!” I shouted. The second-placed rider was not on ZwiftPower meaning that I had taken victory as per the rules of the race!
Summing up
Naturally, I am pleased to have won the race and achieve my target of sub 40 minutes, but the joy was only felt well after the crossing the line. That moment of joy when crossing the finish line as per real life was not there, and checking the race results on a different system took away from the experience.
I don’t have a solution on how to correct the issue, but perhaps to enter races there needs to be prerequisites in order to partake. This is an issue for Zwift to look at and solve. And this leads me to the point I started with about the Haute Route and the ‘General Classification’ issue and Zwift Power.
If Zwift is going to host racing events, they need to look at it holistically and put in processes and procedures to ensure the user experience is enhanced. Because I want my next win to feel better than this. After all, I earned that moment of victory and want to celebrate it, even if it’s in a virtual world!
Your Thoughts
Share your comments below!
Great effort Tim, and congratulations on the win. It’s insane for Zwift to outsource their racing results to what is essentially a third-party website, which publishes results that directly conflict with what is reported in-game. This has been a ridiculous situation for years, and it is even more ridiculous now that Zwift itself has been running ZwiftPower for almost a year.
Jonathan, Zwiftpower is not a third party anymore. They became owner of the site over a year ago I believe. Zwift really needs to make the integration happens are this is taking way too long.
Thank Jonathan, appreciate your congratulations.
Ha, congrats Tim!!! Massive effort! I know this one hunted you for a while 😀 Well done 👏
Thanks Mitja, nice to tick it off, I’m not up to your level of wanting to do 24 hours though. That still blows my mind – 2 months later. 👍
I agree with the delayed result disinterest scenario. I always go by the ZwiftPower results but there are too many folks playing fast and loose with their weight profiles and/or smart trainer data. Don’t know of any way that can ever be overcome though, there is no way of policing it, people will always want their moment in the sun without putting in the effort to earn it. Even ZwiftPower results can be easily manipulated just by subtracting 10kg off your weight or just gradually dropping it to avoid suspicion. Who’s ever going to know? The world of ‘virtual’ racing is, by its very nature, FAKE. The only person you can ever honestly compete against is yourself.
fantastic effort Tim, i am new to zwift only level 10 so not even atempted this yet but that is so inspiring, i might be brave enough soon just to plod up when i have a hour or two to spare 😂
Thanks Richard, just finishing it is a target, that is how I started. Then each time I noted I got quicker and then before you know it you are chasing personal times whether that is sub 2 hours, 1 hour, 50 minutes. It is all individual targets, I know I am not the quickest, but it was a nice milestone and hopefully there are a few hints and tips in there and the comments to help people go a bit quicker.
Great effort and great race description until the last paragraph. Don’t forget it is a game. If you want proper cheering go race outside in official events where everybody can be compared equally. When you wrote holistically it is in contradiction with your individual description. Again great effort on the last ride!
When I said holistically, I mean perhaps everyone that wants to race has to sign up to Zwift Power or something – perhaps riders not connected to Zwift Power don’t show in the results when you finish as you cross the line – again, this is something for Zwift to look at. I look forward to racing outside but I can’t see that happening anytime soon, it goes for running, last race was over year ago. I just hope for everyone concerned the global pandemic is coming to an end and Zwift have certainly done a brilliant job providing a platform to keep people connected and competing. Thanks for reading – hopefully see you on the PRL ride on the weekend, I am hoping to ride and interview people and maybe we can chat about this, get your thoughts. 👍
I can’t come up with a single fundamental difference between racing indoors and outdoors. They are both equally “games”.
Can you explain why one is, and one isn’t?
Racing indoors isn’t realistic. Too many cheats with fake watts, fake weights, fake heights. At least being outside these things can’t be faked.
crazy sustained power, dno how you climbers do it. >220w and im into anaerobic lul.
still haven’t broken a sub-60min alpe du zwift myself, even with the help of meilensteins!!
It’s a combination of things, the more I have ridden on Zwift, the strong I have become and also I have lost a lot of weight as a result, those two things have just naturally made me a fitter person. It’s just little by little. You will see by my articles I do different rides to keep things interesting and to keep me motivated but also it helps train different aspects of cycling which all add up, it certainly has in my case, so can only speak for myself. The key thing is to enjoy Zwift, cycling or any sport. Part of the victory, if not all of the victory is doing sport in the first place. You can see my profile to know where that is coming from. 👍
The Haute GC results are posted? They never did show up in Zwift Power. The women’s results did however. What a farce.
Steve, I had to hunt for them on the Haute webpage, after reading it in the forum, whilst trying to get an interview. Like I said, I had moved on by that time. Shame Zwift don’t have a feedback mechanism about events……
Well done. Thats an amazing feat. Out of interest, what did you have your trainer difficulty set at? I’m trying to break the 60min barrier and failed (just) twice. Any help would be great.
Hi, thanks, I had it set to 100 percent.
absolute mad lad 😀
Great effort Tim. Congratulations on the great time. When I break the hour up there I’ll be telling everyone! If you had trainer difficulty set to 0 do you know what the difference would be? Would it have been easier on your legs etc?
Yes, lower difficulty means faster flywheel speeds, which mean less torque on your legs. You can last longer at the same power at lower difficulty settings
Chris, and Jer, lower difficulty level is similar to have bigger gears in the cassette. In the end it doesnt change anything. You end up spinning you legs faster and it makes it hard to develop the wattage. In the end, wattage is wattage, Doesnt change the total amount of work you have to put out to climb the alpe. You weight is fixed, so is the height to climb. Therefore, the time to climb is only determined by the total work (or avg watts) you put out.
A lower difficulty setting is good if you don’t want to mess with really low gears or a lot of gear shifting. I bought the smart trainer for the realistic feel, (so I stay at 100%) but I understand why some lower the difficulty. There is a theoretical advantage in needing less shifts–there is a small amount of energy lost in gear shifts. Just look at your power graph when you shift, especially the front.
It removes all the changes of gradient at the corners, means you can find the gear where you can spin at 80-85rpm and maintain your target power output, no need to keep shifting gears. This is not insignificant.
Thanks Jer, keep plugging away, hopefully there will be some hints and tips from the article to help.
There is a legitimate reason it doesn’t feel as satisfying to wait to see that you win in ZwiftPower….just like racing in the real world, when you don’t cross the finish line first and have to wait on the others to be DQ’d, it’s not the same as actually being the first across the line with no doubts or questions about what you just accomplished.
Hi Tim,
Congratulations and a great commentary. As a novice to the whole Zwift thing I attempted this the other evening and it’s torture. Your power and HR are fantastic and of course your finishing time too. I’m curious as it shows 46:26, but you completed in 39:28. Where does the clock start?
46:26 for whole Road to Sky route, Alpe timer doesn’t start til you hit the KOM banner at the bottom of the climb.
Good article fellow Tim.
I’m slightly cynical about Zwift’s intentions with racing, feel like they don’t care too much because arguably the ~10% users who race are more committed and unlikely to stop paying, so Zwift focus is on casual / workout user growth instead.
There’s so much more they could do: better TTT race start, velodrome, handicap, 6 v 6 matches etc. That’s not including handicapping to avoid weight cheating and making Zwiftpower integral part of racing.
Hello Tim, I like your ideas especially the velodrome. There may be some potential Bradley Wiggins out there who track riding would suit, it is a shame they don’t build a velodrome, that would be especially fun. They built that running track for runners, so surely it’s just a case of replicating that. I also agree about the TTT start. I think a handicap race would also be fun. In summary, I think you raise some excellent points and I certainly support them. It’s a shame Zwift doesn’t pay more attention to the fans. It’s clear the fans really do have the best ideas. Good post 👍
Awesome effort, Tim! I’m amazed at how constant you can keep your power output; for me, it gets more uneven with every single gear shift. And let’s not even talk about the wattage …
As for the race results, there are a few simple and obvious things that I don’t get why they’re not being enforced from the start – like you’re not using the obligatory HRM? Well, your avatar shouldn’t even get out of the pens! Others like plausibility checks DQing someone later on are simply intrinsic to the game. You can’t do them before the entire log of race data is available, so I guess there’s little Zwift can do.
Thank Matthias, I like your idea about your avatar not moving if you don’t have the heart rate monitor. That is very simple solution. It’s interesting because the fans are coming up with the solutions to Zwift’s issues – I noted that they appointed a couple of new directors, shame Eric Schlange from Zwift Insider isn’t there to be the voice of the fans, I’m actually serious about that point.
First of all, thank you for trying to get anywhere with Zwift about the whole Haute Route GC disaster. I share your sentiment about that event 100% and would have liked for Zwift to at least go on the record and explain in a little more detail what happened and apologize.
Great job finishing the Alpe in under 40mins, that’s a big accomplishment. And doing that in a race makes it even more special. I’ve done sub40 in workout and free ride mode but doing it on Stage 3 of Haute Route definitely felt extra rewarding.
I also totally agree with your point about winning after not crossing the finish line in first. That just doesn’t feel the same. During the recent Tour de Zwift, there was always at least one other rider in the group that checked the ZP status of everyone around. That way, when it came to a solo breakaway the whole group already knew if we should do something about it or not. That helped to not waste too much energy but still felt kinda weird.
Great story and kudos on the time. Very very impressive!
Thank you
Congrats Tim, albeit of the belated realisation kind. On a more minor note that turn 7-6, urghh – sooo long, the world closes in around you as, rather aptly, does the banked snow on either side. I’ve taken to splitting it into 2 x 2 minute efforts and looking at the head unit more than the screen for those few minutes, so mentally sapping (alongside the physical!) is that stretch otherwise. Now seeing the satellite dishes at Turn 1 is the opposite, always gives me a nudge for those final few hundred meters!
Thank you, that is a great hint for that really challenging section, I will have try that approach. Every little gain helps.
The other thing you allude to that rings true about the climb is you can’t negative split it if you want an optimal time. The first quarter of the climb is the steepest part, averaging close to 10%, especially the first few hairpins. You have to hit it hard from the get go and then ever so slightly back off and desperately try to sustain that to the summit. It’s just all kinds of ouch but very satisfying when you walk that fine line and teeter on the brink successfully!
Mentally the hairpins are a god send – just 2 minutes at X Watts…just another 1m 45s at X Watts etc. etc. you could use your head unit to break it up but the on screen compartmentalisation is (kind of?!) wonderful.
Now that ZP is run in-house by Zwift, it surely cannot be impossible to put a message ‘You need to register with Zwiftpower to enter this event’ on the Zwift Events page, and a similar one on the in-game screen. The tech must already be there to also check your w/kg is correct (not that I think this is the best way to manage categories) as per the anti-sandbagging message on those events.
Congrats on the win, and as a fellow grinder congrats on the equally important (in my eyes anyway) achievement of keeping your cadence up (I know that’s always something I struggle with when climbing). I couldn’t agree with you more about the need for Zwift to enhance their finish line experience. As an avid IRL racer I have come to love the feeling of crossing the finish line (especially in first place) and I really feel like Zwift just doesn’t do that for me with all of the uncertainty surrounding where I actually finished.
Thanks Cade, I glad you understood my challenge with the cadence, such a difficult thing to do if it is not your natural style. I have no idea how people like Chris Froome can climb in excess of 100 rpm – but I guess that is why he won 4 Tour de Frances. 👍
Totally agree. It always feels weird to check ZP afterwards to get your “real” results. It completely takes away from the race experience for me
awesome power output over that time duration for a 149 pound rider (as documented from the results showing average watts and watts/kg for your ride)
Congrats Tim. You are right Zwift does need to do something. Too many racers have complained for too long.
It does interest me though, if the person who beat you was doing everything legit, and just aren’t on Zwiftpower because they don’t know about it, then its not really a win for you either.
At the moment its not a zwift win, its a zwiftpower win, and that has to change.
Cmon zwift!
Thats funny. I won my first race at exactly the same event (but in Cat B). On Zwift I finished only 5th but all the riders infront of me were not on Zwiftpower. They nevertheless would have been DQ since they averaged 4.5 W/kg or more. As youexplained very well, it didn’t feel like a win. My honest 3rd place at a race a week before where all riders were on Zwiftpower felt better. That’s the same thing with doping. An athlete at the olympic games once said in an interview: Even if you get the win on paper later on when the cheater is disqualified, you don’t get back the feeling crossing the line first or standing on top of the podium. I’m far from being that good but category enforcement and cheating prevention in Zwift would make me enjoy the game more. Very good effort Tim!
Nice one on your Cat B win Martin. It certainly appears from many of the comments that people agree that Zwift need to address this issue around racing. I think a big problem I am noticing across the forums and even in my own experience for various Zwift Insider articles, is that they are difficult to engage with with so, I am not sure what to do to raise this issue.
This is a great read, love it, I’m racing up it today and will adopt some of these tactics