On the afternoon of May 22nd, what laid ahead of our 8-rider roster was 3 days of grueling racing against some of the strongest Continental Professional and USA Elite Domestic cyclists in the world. The Tour of the Gila was brought to Zwift by Project Echelon, a cycling team which advocates to educate, equip, and empower veterans through physical activity. There is no better weekend for Project Echelon to put on a stage race and promote their mission than Memorial Day weekend — let’s have some fun!

May 22nd: Tour of the Gila – Team Time Trial

Roster: Ryan Larson, Gavin Dempster, Timmy Bauer, Matt Brandt, Matt Gardiner, Holden Comeau, Chris Beck, Matt Curbeau

Director Sportif: Mike Egan

Pre-Race Strategy from Director Mike Egan: “The unique format of the Team Time Trial (TTT) on Zwift is something our team is well-equipped to execute. The goal for the team is to win and set ourselves up well going into the weekend. My intention as DS was to furnish the guys with the information they needed so they could execute free from distraction. I thought of the course as broken into 5 parts, each with its own set of demands; the 10km flat going into the forest, the rollers going into the climb, the climb itself, the rollers coming out of the forest, then the flat coming home. The demands on the team are high because of the strategy to ride single file. The thing about TTTing on Zwift is that single file is faster than grouping up or forming a ‘blob’, however what makes it so difficult is that if you go from 1-2 meters between riders to 2-3m, gaps open and the demands of just being in the line go from 4-5w/kg to 6-7w/kg. No team is better prepared to race the TTT than ours—all that's left to do is execute!”

Post Race Reaction from Director Mike Egan: “Well, it’s safe to say the team executed the plan perfectly. We knew that all we could do is give it our all to produce our best result and if we got beat, then so be it. Well, we didn’t get beat.

We crushed the flats, with riders like Comeau, Gardiner, and Brandt not only pulling hard but plugging holes in the paceline without disrupting the flow. We went into the rollers and rode well there. My only concern, initially, was when Matt Curbeau took a strong pull going into the Titans Grove climb, and my fear was that Dempster and Larson would crush him as he pulled off. But what we would come to learn over the course of each stage was that this was just the first of several stand out performances from Curbeau Turbeau on his way to a top-10 finish. Gavin and Larson demolished the climb as we knew they would. The team really got aggressive coming out of the forest coming down the rollers but at that point, they could smell the finish line at which point it was all about guts and, top-to-bottom, man-to-man, nobody has more guts than this group. As soon as we got out of the Forest I called on them to reorganize as quickly as possible so that we weren’t giving back time, which they did. Guys like Holden, Timmy, Brandt, and Beck were able to continue to plug holes and maintain group rhythm, which is easier said than done. From that perspective it really was a team performance with every rider contributing.

This is one of my greatest experiences in Sport and I couldn’t have been prouder of these boys and what they were able to do in setting themselves up to win the Tour of the Gila.”

Notable Performance Data from racer Matt Gardiner: “In our coordinated efforts, we aimed for 30 second pulls at 6.5w/kg or more, rotating to the back of the group after your turn was up. The result was an average for our 8 riders of just 5.1w/kg! While that may seem like a lot of power, other teams far exceeded this (for example, L39ION of LA had riders average 6W/kg!) What drove our success was our ability to maintain our 8-rider group from start to finish, our teamwork and efficiency, coordinating as best as we could to maintain speed. In the end, it allowed us to conserve energy for the rest of the weekend.”

May 23rd: Tour of the Gila – Road Race

Roster: Ryan Larson, Gavin Dempster, Timmy Bauer, Matt Brandt, Matt Gardiner, Holden Comeau, Chris Beck, Matt Curbeau

Director Sportif: Dan Fleeman

Pre-Race Strategy from Director Dan Fleeman: “This weekend I had a change from my usual team-rider role to team director sportif (DS). This was a nice change and something I really enjoyed! The team did amazingly winning the TTT by almost 30s on Friday, which gave us a nice buffer going into the weekend’s road stages. Today we had two aims: 1) retain the GC lead and 2) get Holden to the end of the race to set him up for the stage win. As the most experienced team in the field on Zwift, a big part of our strategy will be using our course knowledge to gain an advantage and hold onto our lead!”

Post Race Reaction from Director Dan Fleeman: “The pace today was fast from the start, which helped us as it meant attacks didn’t have much chance of sticking. We just did enough to keep the pace high which also eliminated a lot of riders from the lead group. Holden did a great job of getting over the climbs while conserving maximum energy, and all the guys made sure it came down to a sprint. In the final kilometers, we followed wheels trying to move off the front, and set up a leadout with 400 meters to go to deliver Holden to the line for the stage win!

Notable Performance Data from racer Holden Comeau: “This race featured 5 difficult KOMs, 3 of which required power well in excess of 7W/kg to maintain contact with the lead group, and 2 requiring 6W/kg. Five of our riders made it to the final sprint, and the guys set up a perfect lead-out for me with 300m to go. They brought me in close to the line so I only needed a short kick. I hit over 16 w/kg for about 12 seconds. That was almost 1300w, which I’m pleased with after such a brutal race. It was one of the closest finishes I’ve ever been in. We won by 0.003s which is the kind of margin that is not possible to actually see when you’re racing it. Particularly with the finish line on this course that comes around a turn. It’s common for races to be that close in esports though. And I’m really thrilled that after 90min of brutal racing I was able to make that last moment be my best. That’s what sprinting is all about!”

May 24th: Tour of the Gila – Queen Stage

Roster: Ryan Larson, Gavin Dempster, Timmy Bauer, Matt Brandt, Matt Gardiner, Holden Comeau, Chris Beck, Matt Curbeau

Director Sportif: Dan Fleeman

Pre-Race Strategy from Director Dan Fleeman: “Today’s race will be the longest and hardest stage of the weekend, taking racers through Watopia’s Medio Fondo course and finishing with the Epic KOM--an almost 20 minute-long climb. We start the stage with a good gap on the GC and our two main GC riders, Gavin and Ryan, are both motivated to bring home the overall victory! Our plan is to take control from the start: setting our domestiques out to control any dangerous moves from other GC hopefuls. If we can get Gavin and Ryan to the final KOM without them having to do much work, we’ll have a great shot at the overall GC win!” 

Post Race Reaction from Director Dan Fleeman: “As the stage got underway, things were fairly relaxed, which meant we were in for an intense end to the stage. A few attacks looked to get away during the race, but our domestiques Chris Beck, Matt Curbeau, and Matt Gardiner kept them reeled in. As soon as we hit the final climb 2 riders attacked straight away, including our main competition for the GC, Chris McGlinchey. Instead of panicking and trying to follow we let the leaders establish a gap then we held it around 15 seconds before slowing pulling it back in. Gavin and Ryan made contact with the leaders around 2km from the finish and we knew it was a just a case of bringing it home for the overall victory! Gavin took 4th on the day, and the overall GC win, with Ryan taking 8th on the day and 2nd on the GC! We finished the weekend with 2 Stage victories and 1st, 2nd, 10th on GC! The entire team bought into the plan and executed it perfectly! It was a complete team effort and I’m proud of all the guys.’

Notable Performance Data from racer Matt Gardiner: “The Queen Stage of the Tour of the Gila did not disappoint. While the pace may have been more ‘relaxed’ than stage 2, as domestique I spent the first hour and a half at a normalized power of 340W, navigating the 2 timed KOMs and the Jungle Circuit in the lead group at the front of the pack. At the base of the Epic KOM, I waved goodbye having completed my job and immediately Chris Beck took over. Chris kept the gap to GC threat McGlinchey in check by sitting on the front of the chase group at 405W (6W/kg) for the first 6 minutes of the mountain. Gavin and Ryan sat just behind conserving crucial energy. When it came time for Gavin and Ryan to take over, they were more than ready. From the ocean tunnel exit, to the top of the mountain, Gavin and Ryan both put out a massive 5.9W/kg for a brutal 18 minutes and 10 seconds.”

We are floored with how the weekend played out. Putting 4 guys in the top-15 and and the top two steps on the podium? We never dreamed of it! We could not be more thankful for Project Echelon’s tireless work in putting on this event with help from WTRL Racing, Zwift Community Live and Tour of the Gila.

What we hope that we demonstrated is that Zwift is not all about watts-per-kilogram. Our team does not have the strongest riders. We didn’t put out the most power in the TTT or on the climbs this weekend. We worked together as best as we possibly could. We went into the races with a plan, and adapted as we needed to with expert instruction by Egan and Fleeman. We suffered for one another at every opportunity. We communicated. We played the game we love — using our course and game-mechanics knowledge to give ourselves the best chance at winning the weekend. It worked!

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.