This page includes route maps and basic details for all Zwift routes on the Yorkshire course.
Looking for other courses? Jump to Watopia Routes, London Routes, New York City Routes, Innsbruck Routes, Crit City Routes, Bologna TT, or Richmond Routes.
One of six routes rolled out with Zwift’s UCI 2019 Worlds map, “2019 UCI Worlds Harrogate Circuit” covers the actual finishing circuit which the world’s top road racers raced in September’s 2019 UCI Worlds events.
Route Basics
Length: 13.8 km (8.6 miles)
Elevation: 240 m (787‘)
Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles)
Map: Yorkshire
Achievement Badge: 270 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Yorkshire KOM Forward
BestBikeSplit Model
Estimate ride time, IF and TSS, plan your power, and more!
Route Description
Roll through the start/finish banner in Harrogate, then turn right to head up Otley Road, the longest section of straight road on the Yorkshire course. As you make your way out of Harrogate proper you’ll find yourself in the farm lands. Look for sheep, cows, and a friendly farmer on his tractor.
The Yorkshire KOM begins when you hit the stone bridge and turn a sharp left. The stream crossed here is called Oak Beck (“Beck” is used often in Yorkshire for a small river or stream). In real life, this bridge is narrow and crossing-controlled by traffic lights to be one way. But we Zwifters get to roll on through.
Crossing Oak Beck
Hit that KOM, enjoy your descent, then turn a sharp left past the Royal Pumproom onto Millionaire’s Row. You’re now on Cornwall Road, in the Duchy Estate–one of the poshest places in all of England to live.
Your next right takes you onto the forward sprint, a short but punchy effort which is mostly uphill until the final few meters. Finish that sprint, enjoy your descent, and wrap up your loop of the Duchy Estate. (Note: the sprint is so short that Strava will not let us create a segment.)
The Royal Pumproom
ou will pass the Royal Pumproom again (this time on your right). In the 18th and 19th centuries, Harrogate made its fortune by drawing often wealthy people to come and take its waters, which had a supposedly curative effect. Known locally as “The Pump Rooms”, this is one location where these waters emerged from the ground.
As you turn the last right before the finish, note the Zwift Draft House on your left. This is the Cold Bath Brewery where Zwift is setting up shop and giving away its own custom brews during 2019 Worlds Week.
Almost there! The straightaway to the finish is uphill, so if you’re racing be ready for an especially challenging effort in these final meters. You will pass “Scotty’s” on the left, which in real life is Betty’s Tearooms, a huge local landmark.
This final sprint is where Mark Cavendish famously crashed out of the 2014 Tour de France. Happily, Zwifters don’t need to worry about such dangers, but you can certainly appreciate the massive effort put forth in this final drag to the finish.
Special thanks to Simon Schofield from the Zwiftcast for helping us put together these route notes. Simon is a Yorkshireman who has ridden these roads hundreds of times, so his local knowledge proved invaluable to us and to Zwift, who used his input to create and name Yorkshire’s routes.
There is a reverse version of this route, but it is event-only and thus only used for official events.
One of six routes rolled out with Zwift’s UCI 2019 Worlds map, “Duchy Estate” covers the smaller northern portion of the course in a clockwise direction. This is the reverse version of Queen’s Highway.
Route Basics
Length: 3 km (1.9 miles)
Elevation: 37 m (121‘)
Lead-In: 1.7 km (1.1 miles)
Map: Yorkshire
Achievement Badge: 60 XP
Strava Segments
Start to Sprint Banner Lead In
Duchy Estate (Banner to Banner)
Bike Selection
While this route is constantly up or down, none of the climbs are long or steep enough for a lightweight setup to offer any advantage over an aero setup. So get the most slippery frame and wheels you can afford!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
The actual Duchy Estate loop is rectangular and 3km long, but it begins with a lead-in of approximately 1.8km from a spawn point located in central Harrogate before the start/finish and start pens. You will pass the Royal Pump Room on your right as storefronts turn to homes and you arrive on “Millionaires’ Row”.
Passing the Royal Pump Room
This road is part of the Duchy Estate loop, but you are still in the lead-in portion since the loop begins and ends at the sprint banner just up the road. Climb up Cornwall Road, then turn a hard right and sprint up hill to the banner and your Duchy Estate loop has officially begun.
The sprint in this direction is short and punchy. So short, in fact, that Strava won’t allow a segment to be created for it!
The residential area you are riding through is an extremely desirable piece of real estate, and one of the poshest places in the whole of England to live. Fun fact: all the land is owned by the Duke of Lancaster who is, in fact, the Queen.
After you descend Kent Road and climb Cornwall Road for a second time you will have one final sprint effort to finish your lap. You can, of course, keep riding and put in as many laps as you’d like.
One of six routes rolled out with Zwift’s UCI 2019 Worlds map, “Queen’s Highway” covers the smaller northern portion of the course in a counter-clockwise direction. It is the reverse version of the Duchy Estate route.
Route Basics
Length: 3 km (1.9 miles)
Elevation: 121 m (397‘)
Lead-In: 2.8 km (1.7 miles)
Map: Yorkshire
Achievement Badge: 60 XP
Strava Segments
Bike Selection
While this route is constantly up or down, none of the climbs are long or steep enough for a lightweight setup to offer any advantage over an aero setup. So get the most slippery frame and wheels you can afford!
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
The actual Queen’s Highway loop is rectangular and 3km long, but it begins with a lead-in of approximately 2.4km from the regular spawn point located in central Harrogate north of the start/finish and start pens. You will pass the Royal Pump Room on your right as you make your way north to the Cairn Hotel.
Passing the Cairn Hotel
This road is part of the Queen’s Highway loop, but you are still in the lead-in portion since the loop begins and ends at the sprint banner at the top of the climb. Climb up Kent Road, and give the long sprint all you’ve got. Once you’re through the banner your Queen’s Highway loop has officially begun.
(Warning: the sprint segment is uphill and rather long–almost 400 meters! So you’ll have to pace yourself.)
The residential area you are riding through is an extremely desirable piece of real estate, and one of the poshest places in all of England to live. Fun fact: all the land is owned by the Duke of Lancaster who is, in fact, the Queen.
After you descend Cornwall Road you will climb past the Cairn Hotel again and up Kent Road for one final sprint effort to finish your lap. You can, of course, keep riding and put in as many laps as you’d like.
One of six routes rolled out with Zwift’s UCI 2019 Worlds map, “Royal Pump Room 8” is a “figure of 8” route which covers all roads in both directions. This is the longest Yorkshire route in game.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Harrogate made its fortune by drawing often wealthy people to come and drink its waters, which had a supposedly curative effect. Known to locals as “The Pump Rooms”, the Royal Pump Room is one location where these odorous, sulfurous waters emerged from the ground.
The building is located on course at the main intersection, where the northern and southern loops come together.
Route Basics
Length: 27.7 km (17.2 miles)
Elevation: 480 m (1,575‘)
Lead-In: 0.1 km (0.1 miles)
Map: Yorkshire
Achievement Badge: 550 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Yorkshire Sprint Reverse
Yorkshire KOM
Yorkshire Sprint Reverse
Yorkshire KOM Reverse
Strava Segments
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
From the spawn point, you will ride under the start banner then north to the Queen’s Highway loop. This is the smaller, northern loop of the Yorkshire course, and you ride it here first in a counter-clockwise direction. This northern loop contains the Yorkshire sprint segments (a different segment in each direction), and this time around you will hit the longer sprint.
Next, you will proceed through the start/finish banner and onto the much larger, southern loop portion of the course, in a clockwise direction. Ride up the forward KOM segment, then catch your breath as you descend to the next portion.
Now it’s back to the northern loop, this time in a clockwise direction. This small loop makes up the Duchy Estate route. Finish this loop and head south for one more lap of the big loop, this time in a counter-clockwise direction, beginning with the reverse KOM segment. The route finishes at the start/finish banner.
Passing the Royal Pump Room
One of six routes rolled out with Zwift’s UCI 2019 Worlds map, “Tour of Tewit Well” covers the larger southern portion of the course in a counter-clockwise direction.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Harrogate made its fortune by drawing often wealthy people to come and drink its waters, which had a supposedly curative effect.
Tewit Well was discovered in 1596, and named after the local word for peewit or lapwing, a bird common to the Stray parkland where the well is located.
Route Basics
Length: 10.4 km (6.5 miles)
Elevation: 200 m (656‘)
Lead-In: 0 km ( miles)
Map: Yorkshire
Achievement Badge: 210 XP
Banners and Leaderboards
(in order of appearance)
Yorkshire KOM Reverse
Strava Segments
Route Description
Route profile by ZwiftHub – the place to plan and track your route achievements!
Beginning before the start/finish banner, you will quickly turn left near the Royal Pump Room and begin the reverse KOM segment. Finish that climb then descend down the backside and over the Oak Beck stone bridge.
Most of the loop after this point is fairly straight roads at gentle inclines, except for the Pot Bank section which will surprise you with its short, steep climb (15%).
In real life, this is a twisty, narrow bridge. Zwift has retained the steep descent and curves but widened the roads for our safety.
Make your way through the fields, wave hello to the friendly farmers and their cows and sheep, and you’ll find yourself back in Harrogate soon enough. The route ends as you cross the start/finish banner.
I clicked on the Queens Highway last night, I did 11km and 211m of climbing and I still didn’t complete the achievement!!! Is there a problem with the route or is the above profile of the route drastically out of date???
Those numbers just don’t add up as far as this route is concerned, sounds like you must have somehow made a U turn near the beginning or turned left at the intersection.
For what it’s worth, I did the same route as a warmup on Monday and got the badge, 6.5 km (about 1 km extra as I coasted all the way down the hill after the banner) and 90 m of climbing.
Hi. In the descriptions you mention 6 Yorkshire routes but only have descriptions for 5. Is this an error or is one of the routes missing? Many thanks Adam
The UCI circuit has a forward and reverse version, and we have both of those on the one post.
Today was my second time riding royal pump room 8. I went over 40k and 700m climbing this time. Went through at least 3 more gates, and never got a banner acknowledging that I’d completed the route/achievement. Not sure what happened there, but it’s not cool.
Same thing happened to me today. I went 25 miles but no banner appeared and didn’t get the badge. 🙁
Did Royal Pump Room for first time today, and got the achievement right around 27.8k when I went under the start gate. Nice course but tough if you hit the hills hard.
Same distance for me today 27.8km and 490m of climbing. I’m finding that all the ZwiftInsider.com route distances and elevation are unreliable, in some cases by a long distance.
Ummm… our data says 27.7km and 480m of climbing. Seems pretty accurate to me…? https://zwiftinsider.com/route/royal-pump-room-8/
It’s close but it’s not correct. There are others I’ve seen where it’s a lot further out. The more frustrating is what Zwift shows as the route when you select it. Zwift is nowhere near accurate. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your hard work!
I understand your frustration, but it’s not a huge challenge to figure out the accurate overall length. It’s just the lead-in length plus the route length.
Zwift’s numbers are confusing in-game because they don’t tell you the lead-in length… but at least now they show it as a blue line at the start, so you have some idea of what you’re in for.
I was wondering if it’s the spawning that changes my results vs what you have. Say it’s really busy, like when 30k+ are riding, could you end up being spawned say a kilometre further back to create enough space for all joiners? Would certainly explain it for this route.
Good race on the Crit circuit today. You jumped in with a group of us in a league in SW England making up a lot of the numbers. You beat me!
These are very helpful. I’d like a to make a suggestion. It would be great if the title of each course included the distance and elevation gain. That way, you could get an overview of all of the routes without having to open each drop-down individually.
Thought I’d toss in my $.02 worth too. Rode both Tour of Tewit Well and Duchy Estate back to back two days ago, rode through the banner at the end of the route, uploaded to Strava as well, but I don’t have the ‘badge’ in the Zwift screen. Data (distance and Time) is correct on the calendar, and in my Activity Feed it shows “Achievement Unlocked” and in the Companion App it shows I got both badges. Just doesn’t show in the actual Zwift Program under badges. Got the ‘addicted’ badge yesterday and rode Royal Pump Room 8 and… Read more »
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Thank you for the efforts so far!
I can’t seem to find the yorkshire forward sprint segment. Is this possible?
There is none, because Strava forces segments to be a certain length, and that sprint is too short. I’ve been complaining about it for years! https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115000161524-Strava-has-decided-to-stop-anyone-from-making-short-segments-