Inside the Team Car: Joe Martin Stage Race
The Race: Joe Martin Stage Race
The Dates: June 19 - 21, 2020
The Director Sportif: David Talbott
The Roster: Timmy Bauer, Chris Beck, Matt Brandt, Holden Comeau, Gavin Dempster, Dan Fleeman, Matt Gardiner, Ryan Larson
After performing well as a team at the Tour of the Gila in May, our team entered the Joe Martin Stage Race motivated and excited to race for the GC win. While we know these courses better than nearly anyone, it’s no surprise that the continental pro and domestic elite racers who participated in Redlands and Gila are starting to learn how to race well on Zwift! It’s exciting to have the level in the peloton turned up — making for a much more interesting GC battle and pushing our team to race as tactically as we possibly can. Racing doesn’t get much better than that!
The weekend was truly incredible, and it kicked off in one of the most painful ways possible: a race of truth.
Stage 1: Bologna ITT
Pre-Race Strategy from racer Matt Gardiner: “The Virtual Joe Martin Stage Race opens with an individual time trial aiming to mimic the famed Devil’s Den TT in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Making use of the Giro d’Italia Prologue course from 2019, the race is more hill-climb than time trial. Pacing the effort iis going massive. Race organizers opted for a mass start, non-drafting TT instead of staggered starts, so the temptation to follow riders who start too hard will be high. We will be focused on maintaining our planned pacing strategy on the opening flat kilometers, and hitting the final 2km climb as hard as we possibly can. We’ll have to see how many people we can pass on the 16% gradients!”
Post-Race Reaction from Director David Talbott: “The boys put in a phenomenal effort. They were definitely motivated with the mass start TT. Dan and Gavin put in a great ride considering they did the effort 30 minutes past midnight! Overall, we are in a great position for the GC heading into the next two stages, with several cards to play.”
Notable Performance Data: “Dan Fleeman is an exceptional climber and he showcased that skills expertly today. He finished the race in 3rd place with a time of 13 minutes 48 seconds with an average power of 418W (6.5W/kg). On the finishing 2km climb, he held nearly 7W/kg for just under 6 minutes.”
Stage 1 Podium
Stage 2: Sand & Sequoias Road Race
Pre-Race Strategy from racer Holden Comeau: “With Dan and Ryan in GC contention, we feel as though we have an opportunity today to play defense and wait until the final stage to take our time back. We’re going to bypass the sprint and KOM competition and focus on setting Holden up for the stage win. We’ll need to make sure he’s protected as the finish line is just over the top of the Titan’s Grove climb. So our goal will be to control the group and the pace to give him the best shot at a sprint finish for the win.”
Post-Race Reaction from Director David Talbott: “The stage was a bit subdued with the field shedding a few riders over Titan’s Grove KOM each lap. We basically spent the stage trying to identify the downhill finish. Positioning would be even more vital than normal as the riders would hit 60mph in the sprint after already a 60 second effort on Titan’s. Still, Ryan managed 2nd. Holden, I think, was a bit disappointed in his effort but that will just motivate him even more. The team protected Dan who moved up to 2nd overall after Mottram DNS’d due to a computer failure. An interesting observation was Jordan’s lack of teammates in the last 3rd of the race - something we hope to use to our benefit on Stage 3.”
Notable Performance Data: “The race was fairly tame and didn’t require any big efforts from our racers, pacing the climb carefully to not waste energy. The ability to conserve in today’s stage is great because it allows our roster to head into stage 3 “fresh”! Though, conserve was a goal, winning the stage was a secondary goal, which racer Ryan Larson came incredibly close to doing. With a hilltop finish anticipated, Ryan’s final 5 minutes were a staggering 6.3W/kg, with the final 20 seconds surging for the line at 12W/kg! The effort landed him in 2nd place for the stage and took him to 4th place in the GC.”
Watch the Road Race broadcast here!
Stage 2 Podium
Stage 3: Richmond UCI Road Race
Pre-Race Strategy from Director David Talbott: “The queen stage of Virtual Joe Martin offered a chance for us to win the GC with Dan. Using our team’s depth and course acumen as a strength we hoped to first isolate Jordan from his teammates then wear him down for the finish. Given Dan’s history on the Richmond course, our plan was to make the race as hard as possible until the final climb up Governor’s, where he would launch his move and hopefully pry a second away from Jordan.”
Post-Race Reaction from Director David Talbott: “First, a big congratulations to Jordan Cheyne and his team, Elevate - Webiplex, for winning the Virtual Joe Martin stage race. He was the strongest in the end. Hats off to him!
After a blistering first lap, Jordan was isolated. We began to apply pressure the second time up Libby’s hill. From then on, the team took turns alternating attacks, applying pressure to Jordan, who successfully parried them all. The rest of the field was able to conserve more energy surfing the wheels, which was a risk if the team went too deep. That proved to be the case as Dan was swamped on the final trip up Governor’s to the finish. But that was an incredible effort by the guys. We came up short but we can be proud of the effort we put in and knowing we gave it our all out there.”
Notable Performance Data: “Each lap, the peloton hit Richmond’s trio of climbs: Libby Hill, 23rd Street, and Governor’s Street. The effort to get over the climbs in the lead group, which are climbed anaerobically (read: SPRINTS), required racers to expend a massive amount of energy with very little recovery between the efforts. After 80 minutes of racing, and 3 passes through the climbs, Dan Fleeman put out an average of 405W (6.4W/kg) from the start of the final Libby Hill KOM to the finish, finishing the final minute with an attack at 550W (8.6W/kg). The effort sealed Fleeman’s 2nd place GC placing!”
Watch the Queen Stage broadcast here!
GC Podium
General Classification Final Results
That weekend of racing was so much fun! Coming together as a team, formulating a plan, communicating throughout the races, and giving 100% to get the team the best result we possibly can shows exactly why racing on Zwift is so compelling. Regardless of where our riders are in the world, we were able to come together as a unified force to get Dan 2nd on the GC podium.
All weekend we fought incredibly hard in the races, but we also worked tirelessly to demonstrate our team’s transparency by recording two power sources for our race efforts as well as weighing in before each race live on video. These steps ensure we are accountable not only to our competition, but to ourselves as well. Zwift racing is a unique discipline. We are so excited to see so many of the PRT teams pushing to become better on the platform, because a rising tide lifts all boats.
Congrats to all of the competitors who lined up this weekend! We cannot wait for whatever racing comes out next from this crew! In the meantime, head over to Project Echelon’s website and please consider donating to their non-profit, which uses the proceeds raised to help veterans get physically active. Through cycling, we can change lives.