The KISS Super League Women’s Series begins this Tuesday at 11 am Pacific. Zwift has been a little quiet about the details of the series, but we did some sleuthing and found out who will be on the Zwift Community All-Star women’s team.
Click to view their results and power details on Zwift Power:
- Britt Mason (USA): with the strongest 15-second power on the team (724 watts!), Britt will be a good candidate to win flatter races.
- Cassie Baldi (UK): UK National Zwift Champ, Cassie has tons of experience and the strongest 15-second power in terms of w/kg (11.98). She will be tough to beat on any course, but especially those with uphill finishes.
- Vicki Whitelaw (Australia): a very strong rider with more Zwift race experience than anyone else on the team, Vicki can hold her own on just about any course.
- Louise Houbak (Denmark): a super strong TT/long breakaway rider, Louise was the Danish National Masters Champion Time Trial 2017. Her 20-minute power of 320 watts (5.16 w/kg) is the strongest on the team.
- Sharon Bird (Northern Ireland): Scottish Hill Climb Champion 2018 and a former runner, Sharon’s power numbers put her near the top for sure.
- Emily Slavin (UK): with solid power numbers all around, Emily will surely prove a valuable asset on KSL’s short, animated races.
- Leah Dixon (Wales): one of the less experienced Zwift racers on the team, Leah’s got strong TT power so expect some long attacks.
- Claudia Behring (USA): USA National Zwift Champ, and twice a 2nd place finisher at CVR World Cup, Claudia is also a champion outdoors.
- Rachael Elliot (UK): Rachael won’t be racing the Super League, but instead acting as the team lead/admin/DS. She was a top racer indoors and out until she had a haemorrhagic stroke while Zwifting in February 2018. This has made her visually impaired and taken a chunk off her former power numbers, but she is still a super powerful rider and one of the most respected women on Zwift.
How the Team was Chosen
Rachael Elliot explained her process for picking the All-Stars team:
The only thing I can say is picking this team was the hardest thing to do *ever*! As you can see recently, there’s been a step change in the number (and quality) of women riding on Zwift in the last year. Women’s races are now as competitive as the co-ed races – just look at the field size in the [Wild Women Series by BRT Hellcatz, Velocity Vixen and ZSUN] each week.
In order to come to this list, I asked James Hodges of ZwiftPower to provided me with a list of all female riders ranked by FTP in races. After combing out those on incorrect power sources (yes, I did make some of the ladies do 20 minute tests!) I looked at the results of Zwift races for people like Britt, who not only has a good ftp, but has a sprint power to rival the best pros!
About the League
Races for the Women’s KSL will happen every Tuesday at 11 am PST and run for eight weeks from Feb 19th to Apr 9th.
We now know that each team will be made up of 8 riders selected prior to the first race. Four racers from each team will be selected for each race round, and the overall standings will be based on points.
