Zwift Tour for All - pro races - spoilers

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  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444

  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Worth noting as well that Yates is at altitude in Andorra.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_nGEyx6yx0

    Shorter vid with Dowsett about the Stage 4 race. Some interesting stuff there about missing the gap on the first go up the KOM and then having higher watts and w/kg than several guys who beat him.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    https://www.velonews.com/training/zwift-really-is-much-harder-than-it-looks/

    Short article about power stats from some of the pros in these online races, quite interesting I thought.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,262
    Some more Zwifting coming up over the next three weekends
      • Saturday 4th July, Stage 1: Nice, 36.4 km (4 x 9.1 km, hilly stage) – Watopia Hilly Route
      • Sunday 5th July, Stage 2: Nice, 29.5 km (682 m of ascent, mountain stage) – Watopia Mountain Route
      • Saturday 11th July, Stage 3: North-East France, 48 km (2 x 24 km laps, flat stage) – France R.G.V. Route (details coming soon)
      • Sunday 12th July, Stage 4: South-West France, 45.8 km (2 x 22.9 km laps, hilly stage) – France Casse-Pattes Route (details coming soon)
      • Saturday 18th July, Stage 5: Mont Ventoux, 14.9 km (finish at Chalet-Reynard, mountain stage) – France Ven-Top Route
      • Sunday 19th July, Stage 6: Paris Champs-Elysées, 42.8 km (6 laps of the circuit) – Paris Champs-Elysées Route (details coming soon)
    Men's and Women's races. All Men's WT teams involved except Movistar and UAE.

    Confirmed names include: Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome, Julian Alaphilippe*, Richie Porte, Greg Van Avermaet, Mathieu Van der Poel, Nairo Quintana, Mads Pedersen, Warren Barguil, Romain Bardet for the men’s race.
    Chloé Dygert, Anna van der Breggen, Chantal Blaak, Marianne Vos, Coryn Rivera, Marta Bastianelli, Lisa Brennauer, Kirsten Wild, Elisa Balsamo, Tiffany Cromwell, Audrey Cordon Ragot, Elizabeth Deignan for the women’s race.

    *Probably not now

    All on Eurosport/GCN
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Stage 1 on now. Should be sprinty. They're flying along.

    Further improvements to the on screen graphics from the Tour for All.

    I did the Etape ride this morning, that was on the mountain route which will be used tomorrow. It's a long descent and flat to the finish so even though it is a big climb (Epic KOM plus the radio tower) it will be interesting to see if they can stay away. I was sweating red wine and didn't do a warmup so I didn't do very well... about 4,700 people doing the same ride though! You could see the game struggling. There's been a ride every 2 hours since 8am and I understand they have all been like that.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Van Rensburg for NTT put in a big attack before the sprint, 6.2km to go now, assuming he wants to make some of the other teams chase to support EBH's chances later.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Stretched out now. Sivakov riding on the front at nearly 7 w/kg... Now Kwiato. Inside 3km
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Ryan Gibbons for NTT won that. NTT set it up well, EBH did a full on leadout for him.
  • jam1e
    jam1e Posts: 1,068
    I'm still not sure that a lot of the riders fully understand the use of power-ups etc - there were some ropey decisions being made during that race.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Yeah, for sure. The NTT guys seemed to know what they're doing though. I see EBH has done shedloads of Zwifting
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,262
    edited July 2020
    I noticed on Twitter NTT have riders riding in the same room. Not all of them, but in pairs. For example van Rensberg and Gibbons were alongside each other.


    Twitter: @RichN95
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Makes sense - they did seem to be doing the most tactically.
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,065
    Surprised they did "full draft" rather than "standard draft" for the pro event, the likes of de Ghent would have no chance of a breakaway!
    ================
    2020 Voodoo Marasa
    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Just watching the Stage 2 now, few audio issues at the beginning of the womens...

    Looking forwards to see all my times demolished!
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,440
    bobmcstuff said:

    Just watching the Stage 2 now, few audio issues at the beginning of the womens...

    Looking forwards to see all my times demolished!

    I did the 6am one on Saturday, with similar wine sweats and about 4 and a half hours sleep. I finished in the first 1000 which I was happy with, a mere 17m 50 seconds slower than Julian Barnards time Pretty impressive time loss over 30km 😂

    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • gregster04
    gregster04 Posts: 1,756
    Anyone doing the event tomorrow on the New France route? I’m signed up for the 6am roll-out.

    Sounds like a pretty easy ride for an hour or 2. Although Vontoux is on the horizon.
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,611
    gregster04 said:

    Anyone doing the event tomorrow on the New France route? I’m signed up for the 6am roll-out.

    Sounds like a pretty easy ride for an hour or 2. Although Vontoux is on the horizon.

    No, the forecast is good, so ride will be outdoors.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    gregster04 said:

    Anyone doing the event tomorrow on the New France route? I’m signed up for the 6am roll-out.

    Sounds like a pretty easy ride for an hour or 2. Although Vontoux is on the horizon.

    6am!

    I've signed up for the 10am. I reckon it will be quite a bit less than 2hrs, it's only 47km and pretty flat (310m total) so sub 1hr30 would be easy (31 km/h which is easy on Zwift). I expect perhaps 1h20, maybe less.

    Ventoux will be another matter of course. I'll be away riding in the Yorkshire moors next weekend so I won't be doing the Etape, it will be one of the discovery rides later in the week for me.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Nice route I thought. Very very fast though - I did the 47.4km in 1 hour 2 minutes. Although I was a bit wobbly afterwards :smiley:

    The sprint at the end of Casse-Pattes is a very fast one, long downhill run in from the KOM into a pan flat sprint. So I basically just gave everyone a lovely leadout... I can't sprint for toffee so I normally just try to make the last 2-3k as hard as possible to tail off as many people as I can (accepting that the remaining people will outsprint me, but at least there will be fewer of them!).

    Did the RGV one as well this evening as a recovery ride, which is even faster relatively (misses the Petit KOM) - 49km in 1hr 10 in zone 2... I wish I could go that fast for that power outdoors! Thought the racing on RGV was a bit flat, it didn't have anything to break it up and the races weren't very interesting. Casse-Pattes had a bit more interest about it with the Petit KOM, it was fairly attritional in the women's race. To make for a properly interesting race they need a shorter circuit with more goes over the Petit KOM I think.

    The Aqueduc KOM is a waste of time as a KOM, it's a sprint with a tiny kick in it.
  • gregster04
    gregster04 Posts: 1,756
    bobmcstuff said:

    Nice route I thought. Very very fast though - I did the 47.4km in 1 hour 2 minutes. Although I was a bit wobbly afterwards :smiley:

    The sprint at the end of Casse-Pattes is a very fast one, long downhill run in from the KOM into a pan flat sprint. So I basically just gave everyone a lovely leadout... I can't sprint for toffee so I normally just try to make the last 2-3k as hard as possible to tail off as many people as I can (accepting that the remaining people will outsprint me, but at least there will be fewer of them!).

    Did the RGV one as well this evening as a recovery ride, which is even faster relatively (misses the Petit KOM) - 49km in 1hr 10 in zone 2... I wish I could go that fast for that power outdoors! Thought the racing on RGV was a bit flat, it didn't have anything to break it up and the races weren't very interesting. Casse-Pattes had a bit more interest about it with the Petit KOM, it was fairly attritional in the women's race. To make for a properly interesting race they need a shorter circuit with more goes over the Petit KOM I think.

    The Aqueduc KOM is a waste of time as a KOM, it's a sprint with a tiny kick in it.

    I got delayed by family issues and finally did Stage 2 on Sunday morning with about 2800 others. As you said, it was pretty easy. I did it in about 90 minutes whilst stopping and starting to intervene in disputes and operate the TV for the kids.

    I’m going to miss Stage 3 this weekend too so won’t get to try out ‘Ven Top’ for a while. Be interesting to see what it looks like and how it compares to the other Zwift climbs.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    You can actually ride it already - if you join one of the discovery rides and either stay on the course afterwards or quit the event (fairly sure this allows you to stay on the course - I know people use it to check out Bologna and Crit City which are otherwise event only), all of the roads are open so you can just navigate to it. I've not done it myself, I just noticed the turn indicator when I was spinning round after Stage 2. There are plenty of Strava times up it.

    Then I guess the discovery rides next week will feature it.

    It's essentially 50% longer than Alpe du Zwift so in principle it'll take 50% longer... They had to make a minor update to it because the testers were complaining you don't really have any progress markers - people seem to like the hairpin-to-hairpin segment times approach for the Alpe - so they've added in the yellow roadside distance markers from the real climb.

    Apparently there's some hacks you can use to free ride it too but I've not investigated those.
  • gregster04
    gregster04 Posts: 1,756
    bobmcstuff said:

    You can actually ride it already - if you join one of the discovery rides and either stay on the course afterwards or quit the event (fairly sure this allows you to stay on the course - I know people use it to check out Bologna and Crit City which are otherwise event only), all of the roads are open so you can just navigate to it. I've not done it myself, I just noticed the turn indicator when I was spinning round after Stage 2. There are plenty of Strava times up it.

    Then I guess the discovery rides next week will feature it.

    It's essentially 50% longer than Alpe du Zwift so in principle it'll take 50% longer... They had to make a minor update to it because the testers were complaining you don't really have any progress markers - people seem to like the hairpin-to-hairpin segment times approach for the Alpe - so they've added in the yellow roadside distance markers from the real climb.

    Apparently there's some hacks you can use to free ride it too but I've not investigated those.

    I read about the hacks but didn’t back myself to pull them off!

    I’ll have a look on Monday and see if it’s included in the discovery rides otherwise I noticed the turn-off too so will divert myself there. I reckon it will be a couple of hours of climbing for lots of us so will definitely need some goals to look out for on the way up.
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,440
    edited July 2020
    I’m signed up for the 6am Ventoux stage tomorrow, I didn’t want to, but i did a recon of the route yesterday and in an hour I managed 12km of the 20.8 so I reckon I’m looking at around 2 hours for the full route.

    I’ve had an easy day today, no riding and plenty of carbs, hoping to set a new ftp tomorrow

    Edit - will still be on the wine tonight though 😂
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    I'm doing a stupid mountain bike ride in Yorkshire tomorrow. But I'll definitely be doing it later in the week.

    Managed 49:13 up the Alpe yesterday, which I was quite happy about. I couldn't sustain that for another 50% obviously (although it was about 8 watts off my best for 50 minutes anyway apparently - just couldn't hold my target towards the end). So on that basis I think I should be able to go easily below 1.5hrs. I think first time I'd just target the high end of tempo and see how I go.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    Also I could not do a good performance at 6am! Not at all. Seemed like even the 10am start last weekend I was noticeably below what I can do in the afternoon or early evening.

    I should probably do some early rides over the next week or so as I'm doing C2C start of August and we are going to start at crazy o'clock...
  • thistle_
    thistle_ Posts: 7,218
    edited July 2020
    bobmcstuff said:

    You can actually ride it already - if you join one of the discovery rides and either stay on the course afterwards or quit the event (fairly sure this allows you to stay on the course - I know people use it to check out Bologna and Crit City which are otherwise event only), all of the roads are open so you can just navigate to it. I've not done it myself, I just noticed the turn indicator when I was spinning round after Stage 2. There are plenty of Strava times up it.

    ****
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7CJ71rHwZY
    Just realised this is basically what you said.


  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,953
    bobmcstuff said:

    You can actually ride it already - if you join one of the discovery rides and either stay on the course afterwards or quit the event (fairly sure this allows you to stay on the course - I know people use it to check out Bologna and Crit City which are otherwise event only), all of the roads are open so you can just navigate to it. I've not done it myself, I just noticed the turn indicator when I was spinning round after Stage 2. There are plenty of Strava times up it.

    Then I guess the discovery rides next week will feature it.

    It's essentially 50% longer than Alpe du Zwift so in principle it'll take 50% longer... They had to make a minor update to it because the testers were complaining you don't really have any progress markers - people seem to like the hairpin-to-hairpin segment times approach for the Alpe - so they've added in the yellow roadside distance markers from the real climb.

    Apparently there's some hacks you can use to free ride it too but I've not investigated those.

    Maybe it's my dodgy eyesight, but you have to focus pretty hard to see the mile stones on the way up. Hopefully when it's released officially there will be something a little bit easier to use to gauge progress.
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,440
    edited July 2020
    I didn’t die!

    Managed about 4 1/2 hours sleep and was on the bike for 5:40 for a warm up.

    It was hard! I go better later in the day, but I couldn’t fit this one in around family commitments so I had no choice, 6am start it was. It was muggy in the garage and I made it through all of the drink I’d prepared, which is unusual for me.

    Climb took 1:36 at 255w average, I was pushing my ftp for quite a while but really started suffering towards the end, I was aiming for a top 1/3rd finish which I just managed, came in 1012ish out of 3325, but was disappointed I dropped out of the top 1000.

    Zwift has shown me how much weight I need to lose, at 86kg, I’m ok in the flatter races, but I’m getting battered on the climbs. Hopefully by next winter I’ll be in better shape.

    Can’t wait to see how the pros go today, it’s a shame they’re not going all the way up though, a proper comparison would have been nice.

    Edit to add, the marker stones are useless on an iPad, I couldn’t read most of them but it was probably for the best, I did see one as I was crawling past and it told me the next Km was 9.9% and it didn’t help at all
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    The milestones - that is just like the real climbs in the Alps... depressing when you see the % for the next km...

    Kudos for doing it that early on that little sleep, I'd die.

    I did 40k of proper adventure MTB in the Yorkshire Dales and I'm knackered...

    Yeah weight makes an enormous difference - I've put on about 0.9 wkg over lockdown by gaining 44 watts and losing 6ish kilos.

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