On Tuesday, the Indoor Specialist squad took on the fourth and final race in Zwift’s Pro-Am Invitational for the Tour de Zwift. The series of races pits 23 teams against each other in an epic battle for points on some of Zwift’s best race circuits.

The Competition

The men’s Pro-Am Invitational features 16 of the strongest amateur / community organized teams on Zwift and 7 UCI-level professional teams. The merging of the professional with the amateur teams shows exactly why eSports Cycling is so unique: Zwift racing is a skill that takes time to perfect!

While we love our week-in, week-out community races, getting to line up against professional teams on our own turf is such an incredible opportunity!

Indoor Specialist racers who lined up for this race were: Aaron Coles, Chris Beck, Holden Comeau, Matt Gardiner & Ryan Larson.

The Course

Zwift is taking the racers to the newest course to be released on the platform for the final race in the Tour de Zwift Pro-Am: the 2019 UCI World Championship Harrogate Circuit.

This circuit has one of the hardest starts on Zwift. Racers exit the pen and immediately turn onto the Otley Road Climb: a 1.7km drag at an average of 4% gradient which slowly ramps upwards. As racers top out on the climb, they are greeted with rolling road and plenty of descent, hitting the steepest gradient on the circuit a few kilometers later, but on a descent: the Pot Bank Descent, which is nearly a kilometer of 16% downhill gradient.

Racers better enjoy that descent, because on the other side begins a roller-coaster of terrain where racers will look to drop anyone who made it over the Otley Road Climb. As racers bottom out on the Pot Bank Descent, they begin climbing up to Pot Bank, ascending a 1.4km stretch of road at 4%, with the KOM looming just on the other side. Topping out on Pot Bank, there is just a 30-second descent where racers can recover before the KOM.

Racers will hit the start of the KOM at speed well-over 60kph, slowing quickly as they begin the all-out effort on the 1.2km 5.5% gradient climb. The KOM has a brief flat section halfway through where racers will either recover for a moment, or attack towards the KOM banner.

Those attacking will be in for a surprise, because on the other side of the KOM just 2km down the road, the intermediate sprint section lies. The rolling terrain of the remainder of the course makes for a crit-like effort for racers — surging and recovering as they head towards the finish.

With just the final turn ahead for the racers, there is one climb left to navigate, and it leads to the finishing arch. The finishing drag on this course is 500 meters of 2% gradient, but begins with a sharp ramp of 8% gradient which will force sprinters to load their legs with fatigue just before emptying the tank for the line. Whoever can resist giving into the pain first will emerge the winner of this race!

The Race

The finale of the Tour de Zwift kicked off in usual Zwift fashion, with a sprint out of the starting pen — except on this course, the pace doesn't come down shortly after.

The opening 3km of the Harrogate circuit features a long drag at 4%, and racers got to the front and immediately turned up the pace. Sitting into the pack was all anyone could do, which meant riding at nearly 6 w/kg to hold the draft. A few riders rode off the front in attempts to establish an early breakaway, but the pack was too strong and brought them back quickly.

The racers topped out on the Otley Road Climb,and the effort fell as racers looked to clear the lactic acid from their legs. The next 5.5km of rolling terrain, a net downhill, saw a largely neutralized field as racers prepared for the back half of the course.

The peloton charged the descent towards the KOM, stringing out ever-so-slightly as racers hit the corner marking it’s start. Immediately, racers lurched out of their saddles, jostling for position on the 8% grade. At the end of the KOM, points will be awarded to the first 10 to cross the line. Indoor Specialist racers Aaron Coles, Matt Gardiner, and Ryan Larson got to the front and kept watch for any attacks. As the pack hit the halfway point, Matt surged off the front, inviting 3 other racers to go for the line. The four racers got a gap on the field and Matt crossed the line in 4th, with Ryan just a few riders back, also in the points.

Immediately, the pack eased off — only a few moments of recovery available before the first, and only, intermediate sprint in the race. The pack hit the base of the descent and the pace skyrocketed as racers sought to increase the gap on riders who couldn’t hold the pace on the climb. With just 500m to the sprint’s start, attacks were thrown and power-ups were dropped — racers doing anything to get to the front to take points for their team. Ryan crossed the line in 7th grabbing crucial points for the team.

With just 3km to go, those racers who didn’t contest the sprint took to the front, turning up the pace to an unbearable speed for anyone looking to recover. The rolling terrain to the finish features sharp inclines with very short descents — making the efforts feel like a criterium. A peloton of 39 racers entered the final turns of the race together.

The sprint began on the final turn of the circuit — a painfully long 600m from the finish. A few racers looked to take the win with an early move, dropping aero power-ups well before the other racers. The pack was patient, sitting behind the attacks at 10 w/kg. In the final moments, the sprint opened up. Racers dropped their power-ups, gripped their handlebars, and put every ounce of energy through their pedals to power their avatars to the front of the race. Just like that, the shortest of the Tour de Zwift races — an utterly chaotic 17 minutes of pain — was over.

With the Tour de Zwift Pro-Am finally complete, we can safely say that the bar for Zwift racing has been raised immensely. We couldn’t be more excited for whatever comes next!

The (Provisional) Results

With far fewer opportunities to grab points in this race compared to the last race on Richmond, we knew going into it that we would need to have as many of our racers finishing in the points at the end as possible.

• Intermediate KOM: Matt Gardiner took 4th and Ryan Larson took 7th — giving our team a total of 11 points, and putting our team in 3rd overall.

• Intermediate Sprint: Ryan took 7th — giving our team 4 points, extending our points total to 15 points.

• Finale: Ryan took 7th and Matt took 10th, and Chris Beck took 24th — giving our team a total of 37 points and extending our total to 52 points, putting our team in 3rd overall!

Overall, this was such an incredible result for our team — we’re proud to have fought hard all race for points and to come out on the podium in this field! Link to the final results can be found here!

The Data:

All race data for our racers in the Pro-Am races is publicly available below: dig in!

Chris Beck

“There is no better way to spend a Tuesday afternoon than rubbing virtual elbows with the best of the best of Zwift racing. The level of competition in the Tour de Zwift was insane, and its incredible to be a part of. I’m so happy for the team’s success throughout the series.”

Matt Gardiner

“Today’s race was every bit as insane as the last 3 Tour de Zwift Pro-Am races I competed in. The level of competition in these events has been truly mind-blowing. I’m so happy to have been able to grab some points in the KOM competition and land in the top-10 today. So stoked for my team taking 3rd overall in the race and with how we performed in the entire series!”

Aaron Coles

“What an amazing series and an amazing team result! The whole series has pushed me to another performance level — the opportunity to race the best racers on Zwift doesn’t happen enough! Thank you to my teammates throughout the series who have inspired me to be a better athlete. Thank you to our sponsors, Saris and KODA for supporting us, and to Zwift for putting on the series!”

Ryan Larson

“I predicted Yorkshire would be suited for the heavy hitters, and that proved to be correct. It was an all-out FTP test and the perfect ending for the Tour de Zwift Pro-Am series. I’m so proud of how our team performed throughout the series.”

Holden Comeau

“This has been a breakthrough race series for Zwift eSports. It’s international-caliber racing on a weekday afternoon from the East Coast USA, and riders are showing up with strength and passion. I think that’s really exciting, and that Zwift eSports is doing really well; finding the right balance in how they’re advancing this new and disruptive style of bike racing. I wish we could’ve won one of these! They stoked the fire until next time.”