The penultimate round of the 2023/2024 Zwift Grand Prix traveled to London for 69.7km of racing on The PRL Half. Both the men’s and women’s fields took on four ascents of Box Hill plus 50km of rolling roads before a frantic final sprint.
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Just like Round 2 of the Grand Prix, Round 6 featured a time cutoff: five minutes for the men and seven minutes for the women. There were also four intermediate sprints along the way, each at the Box Hill KOM banner. With nearly two hours of racing, four sprint primes, and hundreds of points on offer at the finish, the Zwift Grand Prix audience was in for a treat.
Elite Men
More than 70 riders started the first ascent of Box Hill in the Elite Men’s field, but it wasn’t long until the attacks started flying. At the top of the first KOM, Coalition Alpha put two riders in the top 5 to grab a handful of prime points, while 2023 UCI eSport World Champion Bjoern Andreassen (Wahoo Le Col) went on the attack down the descent.
A few kilometers later, Chris Dawson (Wahoo Le Col) launched the first major attack of the race, holding his advantage all the way to the second sprint prime atop Box Hill.
Lap 3 turned out to be the crux of the race as Johan Noren (Team Swedish Zwifters) attacked on the early slopes of Box Hill. In a long and drawn-out sprint, Stefan Van Aelst (ABUS – Synergy) beat Brian Duffy Jr (NeXT eSports pb Enshored) to the line, ahead of Michal Kaminski (Coalition Alpha) and Andreassen.
Suddenly, half the peloton was dropped, and less than 30 riders were left at the head of the Elite Men’s race. After taking a few moments to catch their breath, Martin Meartens (Toyota Elite ECycling) launched the breakaway of the day, going solo with 23.3km to go.
A few kilometers later, Noren attacked out of the field but got stuck in no man’s land between Maertens and the peloton. Nevertheless, both riders kept pushing, and the disconnected pair made it to the top of Box Hill to take first and second-place prime points. Noren finally caught Meartens with around 10km to go, but the duo couldn’t hold off the charging peloton led by NeXT eSports pb Enshored and Coalition Alpha.
As most riders readied for the sprint, Josh Harris (BL13 p/b Level Velo) shot off the front with 800m to go and quickly got a huge gap. The Australian held his effort all the way to the line, taking an emphatic win ahead of a hard-charging pack.
Bart Van Den Eeckhaut (Toyota Elite ECycling) won the bunch sprint for second ahead of Andreassen, Vujasin, and Duffy Jr. Viewers stared at the livestream anxiously, awaiting the final point totals for each team.
Once the points were all added up, NeXT eSports pb Enshored emerged as the Round 6 victor, narrowly ahead of Wahoo Le Col and Toyota Elite ECycling. ABUS – Synergy finished 4th, which meant that NeXT eSports pb Enshored was closing in on their overall lead. With one round left to go, here are the Elite Men’s Overall Standings.
Elite Women
As soon as the men’s race finished, the action switched back to the Elite Women’s race which had already blown apart on the first ascent of Box Hill. Lou Bates (Coalition Alpha) took maximum points over the QOM, which would become a familiar sight over the next 40km.
Bates won the lap 2 sprint prime ahead of her own teammate, Mary Wilkinson, as the field continued to shatter behind.
For the third lap in a row, Bates won the sprint prime atop Box Hill, while Movistar eTeam and Wahoo Le Col continued to gather points from the lower places. The lead group was down to 14 riders with 28km to go, but that didn’t stop Selene Colombi (Team Castelli p/b Elite) from going on the attack.
The Italian rider had been setting a hard pace each time up Box Hill, marking herself as one of the strongest riders in the race. Colombi was reabsorbed by the pack on the flat roads of London, but she went on the attack for the last climb up Box Hill.
Colombi’s effort split the field again, but it was no surprise to see Bates coming around her to take maximum points in the QOM sprint. But as soon as the sprinters sat up, Colombi pressed on the pedals and went straight over the top, moving into a solo breakaway with 15km to go. After getting caught on the descent, Colombi attacked again, this time going clear with only Eleanor Wiseman (Saris | NoPinz) able to follow.
This would turn out to be the winning breakaway, as Wiseman beat Colombi to the line 25 seconds ahead of the chasing peloton.
Koistinen (Toyota Elite ECycling) beat Zoe Langham (Wahoo Le Col) in the field sprint. But when the Round 6 results were revealed, the day’s winner was abundantly clear. With a grand total of 1,517 points, Coalition Alpha absolutely dominated the Elite Women’s race ahead of Wahoo Le Col and Toyota Elite ECycling. It was one of the biggest winning margins in Zwift Grand Prix history.
Coalition Alpha extended their lead atop the Zwift Grand Prix overall standings, amassing a total of 155 points ahead of Aeonian and Wahoo Le Col.
Coming Up Next
The final round of the 2023/2024 Zwift Grand Prix will take place next Thursday, January 18th. Both the men’s and women’s fields will race one lap of Royal Pump Room 8 in a Points Hunter format. There are four intermediate sprints along the route, but only one power-up – the Feather – is available at the start banner.
Once a rider scores points, they will be removed from the race, but only 14 riders will be able to score before the final sprint, which offers points to the top 6 riders. Series points have been doubled for Round 7 of the Grand Prix, which means that neither ABUS – Synergy nor Coalition Alpha has sewn up the overall win. With one round of the 2023/2024 Zwift Grand Prix remaining, the winner-takes-all $10,000 prize purse is still up for grabs for both men and women.
