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    NewsEventsFeatured

    Zwift Grand Prix Brings a Fresh Approach to Elite Team Racing on Zwift

    Eric Schlange
    By Eric Schlange
    August 31, 2022
    31

    As the northern hemisphere heads into “indoor season”, Zwift is taking a long, hard look at what elite-level Zwift racing can be. While some details are still being ironed out, what is taking shape bares little resemblance to the pro-level Zwift racing of past years.

    Elite team racing is being completely decoupled from Zwift Racing League and rebranded as “Zwift Grand Prix”. This should allow the elite events to feature a fresh set of race formats that are “uniquely esports”, creating a more varied and exciting experience for racers and audience members alike.

    It’s a major shift from the past two years, when the elite-level “Premier League” teams would race a day before the community teams, riding the same Zwift Racing League route as the community riders.

    Let’s dig into the details of Zwift’s plans for elite team racing in the 2022/23 season.

    Selected Teams

    Zwift has already selected the 24 elite teams which will participate in the Zwift Grand Prix:

    Men’s Teams Women’s Teams 
    ABUS – LE COLAEONIAN RACE TEAM
    AEROAERO
    CANYON ESPORTSBEASTMODE POWERED BY ROSE
    CRYO-RDTCANYON ESPORTS
    HEXAGONECRYO-RDT
    KALAS ESRT P/B WAHOO BIRKMOVISTAR TEAM
    MOVISTAR TEAMROCACORBA COLLECTIVE
    NEXT ESPORT PB ENSHOREDSARIS NO PINZ
    SARIS | NOPINZSOCKS4WATTS
    TEAM ITALYTEAM SWEDISH ZWIFTERS
    VELOCIOVIRGINIA’S BLUE RIDGE TWENTY24
    WAHOO LE COLWAHOO LE COL

    (Invited included those who took part in Premier Division racing for 2021/22, plus any new teams who had expressed interest in elite-level Zwift racing for 2022/23. Interested teams had to complete an application process and meet numerous requirements in order to be considered for the series.)

    Season Schedule

    All races during the regular season will be scheduled on Fridays at 6pm/7pm UTC. Men and women will alternate weeks.

    Round 1 
    Mens Race(s)  Friday 23rd September @ 6pm UTC
    Women’s Race(s)Friday 30th September @ 6pm UTC
    Round 2
    Mens Race(s)Friday 7th October @ 6pm UTC
    Women’s Race(s)Friday 14th October @ 6pm UTC 
    Round 3
    Mens Race(s)Friday 21st October @ 6pm UTC
    Women’s Race(s)Friday 28th October  @ 6pm UTC
    Round 4
    Mens Race(s)Friday 18th November @ 7pm UTC 
    Women’s Race(s)Friday 25th November @ 7pm UTC 
    Round 5
    Mens Race(s)Friday 2nd December @ 7pm UTC 
    Women’s Race(s)Friday 9th December @ 7pm UTC 
    Round 6
    Mens Race(s)Friday 13th January @ 7pm UTC  
    Women’s Race(s)Friday 20th January @ 7pm UTC 
    Finals 
    Mens Race(s) and Women’s Race(s) On or around 23rd – 26th March (tbd)

    This schedule gives elite racers the opportunity to race in Zwift Racing League events on Tuesdays if they wish, meaning we might see some very high-level racing in the top divisions of ZRL.

    Race Formats

    Zwift’s Esports Team is working on a groundbreaking set of race formats aimed at providing great entertainment while making the racing more strategic and intriguing for riders.

    Some weeks, for example, may feature multiple shorter back-to-back races, perhaps with riders being eliminated in each round.

    The formats have not yet been finalized, and this is a noteworthy change from Zwift’s past approach to elite racing. Zwift says now that Grand Prix teams have been selected, “we will present the remaining event format options for further feedback and refinement with teams – this is a key facet in collaboratively building the sport.”

    Kudos to Zwift for collaborating with top teams to help build something compelling and uniquely esports.

    Prize Money/Start Money

    Each participating team will receive $1,000 as start money for the season.

    Both the men’s and women’s competitions will have prize pots of $16,500 for the season.

    Where to Watch

    Each Friday’s race will be broadcast live with commentary on Zwift’s Youtube channel.

    Questions or Comments?

    Share below!

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    ReddIt
      Eric Schlange
      Eric Schlangehttp://www.zwiftinsider.com
      Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Follow on Strava

      31 COMMENTS

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      31 Comments
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      Benjamin Pitt
      Benjamin Pitt(@benjamin_pitt)
      5 months ago

      Bit disappointing that teams who did well in the knock-out series aren’t included simply because they didn’t meet the sponsors or group ride criteria.

      But importantly – when will zwift incorporate the live race points system they had for the Knock-out series into ZRL and then other community based points races???

      6
      Reply
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Benjamin Pitt

      I think we all know a few teams that could have done well, passed all requirements, and been happy to be given the opportunity to process said application… Sad but not surprised.

      5
      Reply
      Fat Pineapple
      Fat Pineapple
      5 months ago

      How do they control different trainer types? Or are the rules trainers must be controllable? Does zwift lock in 100% trainer difficulty? so the plainh field is level?

      0
      Reply
      James Eastwood
      James Eastwood
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Fat Pineapple

      100% training difficulty is locked in. Trainers have to be within 1% accuracy, so a very limited set of trainers (think kickr v5, neo 2t) are accepted.

      0
      Reply
      Ugh
      Ugh
      5 months ago
      Reply to  James Eastwood

      How are the Saris sponsored teams allowed to race then?

      0
      Reply
      Lucien Didot
      Lucien Didot
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Ugh

      probably not riding on saris.

      1
      Reply
      Lucien Didot
      Lucien Didot
      5 months ago
      Reply to  James Eastwood

      home trainer liste (<1%)
      (source : https://zwiftinsider.com/uci-worlds-2023/)

      B1B85CA2-2375-4F69-BA05-357ED87B6E6D.jpeg
      0
      Reply
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      5 months ago

      That’s funny… I know many elite teams that would have gone down the application process and been able to satisfy said requirements to compete. Sad how you have to have huge sponsors in order to be part of the discussion.

      3
      Reply
      James Eastwood
      James Eastwood
      5 months ago
      Reply to  JAKOB LEE WILSON

      There are a number of teams on the list without big sponsors…

      -2
      Reply
      Mike Swart
      Mike Swart
      5 months ago
      Reply to  James Eastwood

      Most teams without big sponsors that made it in have riders with large social followings. I’m as gutted as you guys, but this is league is a business decision for Zwift and there are a lot of qualifications beyond just having the best racers.

      0
      Reply
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Mike Swart

      I knew we should have recruited the Vegan Cyclist lol

      2
      Reply
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      JAKOB LEE WILSON
      5 months ago
      Reply to  James Eastwood

      I guess we will see how the list looks at the end… But the ones that are put in for reasons outside of Zwift performance tend to settle at the bottom. I guess I should add large social media outlets as well or just East Coast Bias…

      2
      Reply
      Gordon
      Gordon
      5 months ago
      Reply to  JAKOB LEE WILSON

      All about the money though. Pay to Win bring a sponsor.

      Which I’m not against but when the requirements listed community reach or whatever it was 80% of these teams would score a zero.

      I’ll probably tune in to see what new game modes they get in the hope that they get rolled out to community organisers soon after but the racing itself holds little interest to me I’d much prefer to watch teammates racing but i’m sure lots will enjoy it

      4
      Reply
      Ugh
      Ugh
      5 months ago
      Reply to  JAKOB LEE WILSON

      What’s sad is how few riders they let in. IRL races have field limits for safety. What excuse does Zwift have for this?

      0
      Reply
      CtotheD
      CtotheD
      5 months ago

      Is anyone actually interested in this? I think Zwift is quickly going to find that 75% of the premier league audience was ZRL racers watching to recce for their race the next day.

      15
      Reply
      M. "Gasgano" Günther
      M. "Gasgano" Günther
      5 months ago
      Reply to  CtotheD

      I am, for all the games I’ve played I was always watching how the pros do it, picking teams and players to root for and such.

      0
      Reply
      Paul Himes
      Paul Himes
      5 months ago
      Reply to  CtotheD

      There was a strong part of that for me. Another strong interest was being on a club that was able to have a squad in the women’s side of the PRL. Now that neither of those are true, I admit my interest will wane some. Also, putting it on a Friday hurts as well. Busy day for me at work, and the above make me less likely to move things around for it than I have on previous seasons. I get that doing it on Friday frees up

      0
      Reply
      Paul Himes
      Paul Himes
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Paul Himes

      riders to do the ZRL, but I have to think that it’s going to hurt the audience turnout to have races on Friday (especially Friday evening for a large portion of the potential audience).

      0
      Reply
      Andrew
      Andrew
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Paul Himes

      Yeah, that definitely seems like a poor decision in regards to the timing of the races. Seems to me like Saturday afternoon would’ve been the perfect time for it

      1
      Reply
      David Briggs
      David Briggs
      5 months ago

      Depends how hard you sucked the right people off to get into this.

      6
      Reply
      Manel Rodríguez
      Manel Rodríguez
      5 months ago

      No Heino Women’s Team? Really?

      3
      Reply
      Andrew
      Andrew
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Manel Rodríguez

      OK, wasn’t just me out of the loop on team name changes then, when I couldn’t see them in the Women’s list I assumed they’d changed their team name – Seems kinda ridiculous to not have the most dominant Premier Division team in the event at all!

      0
      Reply
      Manel Rodríguez
      Manel Rodríguez
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Andrew

      Indeed, it seems.

      0
      Reply
      Bryn
      Bryn
      5 months ago
      Reply to  Manel Rodríguez

      They folded this year

      0
      Reply
      Ugh
      Ugh
      5 months ago

      Glad to see that yet another big series caters to prime time Europe while further east might be sleeping and further west is at work.

      0
      Reply
      paul smith
      paul smith(@paulsmi6)
      5 months ago

      I don’t understand all the negativity here. I could be wrong, but I would assume Zwift currently has finite resources (didn’t they lay off people who were previously managing the PL?) to spend on this new league experiment and the participating teams involved. Of course it makes sense they’d limit team entries to those backed by established sponsors who are capable of following their guidelines to a “T”.

      -1
      Reply
      Andrew
      Andrew
      5 months ago
      Reply to  paul smith

      What guidelines were there which other promoted Community or no-big-sponsor teams wouldn’t be able to follow? One of the biggest selling points of ZRL was that of promotion and relegation, and in particular that of promotion from the Community leagues to the Premier Division, that age old idea of “hope” or however you think of it where anyone who proves themselves can progress to the top, now that has been completely cut out from under the ZRL, so like as soon as they add prize money they cut out those without income/sponsors/etc, weird! Also a lot of the interest, not… Read more »

      1
      Reply
      Simon Collins
      Simon Collins
      5 months ago

      Any news on the video on YouTube about possible expansion to Makuri islands???

      0
      Reply
      Andrew
      Andrew
      5 months ago

      Viewers: 7-races, 7 weeks right?
      Zwift: Nah, let’s have a 3-week break in the middle, then a 2-month break near the end, and have 7-races over a 6-month period!

      Umm…

      2
      Reply
      Ben Finesilver
      Ben Finesilver
      5 months ago

      Am I reading this right? No more Pros in a Premier League and no possibility of interaction between amateurs and pro riders?
      If so, this is a backward move in terms of “Sport”.

      0
      Reply
      Rogerio
      Rogerio(@neoprotheus)
      4 months ago

      frustrating the non-participation of some teams beyond the dissociation with the ZRL

      0
      Reply
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