Tour of Watopia Pro-Am: Sand & Sequoias
On Thursday, the Indoor Specialist team took on the first of a three stage series hosted by Zwift: the Tour of Watopia Pro-Am Invitational. The series features three incredibly fast courses with professional and community teams racing for the General Classification!
The Competition
The Men’s Tour of Watopia Pro-Am Invitational features both the strongest amateur community-organized teams on Zwift and UCI-level professional road teams. Bringing together amateur eSports teams and professional road teams shows exactly why eSports Cycling is so unique: Zwift racing is a skill that takes time to perfect! While strength on the bike is very important, the demands of racing on Zwift are unique and the game mechanics play a massive role in determining your success in each race!
The opportunity to line up against the other elite amateur and professional teams is incredible! We love the challenge of these Pro-Am events — the bar is raised every time we line up and we're loving how much the series of races are pushing the sport.
Indoor Specialist racers taking on Sand & Sequoias were: Aaron Coles, Dan Fleeman, Holden Comeau, Matt Gardiner & Ryan Larson.
The Course
Zwift is taking the racers to the newest Watopian expansions: Fuego Flats and the Titan’s Grove National Forest. The course is set on the Sand & Sequoias route which features a blazing fast sprint and the game’s flattest road before ascending into the forest for some punchy climbing and the short-but-brutal Titan’s Grove KOM!
A first for Zwift’s Invitational Pro-Am series, the race is scored with an individual General Classification (GC). The GC standings will include points from the Sprint arches and KOM banners — meaning that to take the GC a rider will need to score well on each of these sections on-course.
For the Sand & Sequoias route, this means opening up the race with a strong sprint, as the course’s first points opportunity lies a mere 2km into the race. The drag race to the sprint will likely begin out of the starting pen as stronger racers look to thin the pack. With points on the line, most teams will be looking to start positioning their GC riders with the first points in the Tour.
What immediately follows is the game’s flattest road, where racers will blaze through the desert for 8km. There isn’t a single section of pavement in these 8km exceeding 2% gradient, meaning the peloton will be absolutely flying at 50kph+. Many riders will be giving everything just to sit in the pack! As the race hits 10km in, the racers will leave Saddle Springs for the Titan’s Grove National Forest where the climbing begins.
The terrain from the desert to the top of the Titan’s Grove KOM is 5km of rolling, punchy road. Positioning in the peloton is key as racers look to contend for the KOM competition at the top of Titan’s Grove. At just over 1km in length at 3% gradient, the main section of the Titan’s Grove KOM seems easy on paper, but don’t be fooled — the effort required to contend on this KOM is just short of a sprint for 90 seconds! As the racers pass through the KOM line, the pack will likely be stretched into a long string of racers, and it’s very possible a breakaway will form. On the other side of the KOM, there are 4km of mostly downhill but rolling terrain to reach the other side of the National Forest.
As racers turn right out of the forest back onto the Fuego Flats course heading towards the finish, there are just 3km to find position, set up lead outs for the sprinters, and recover fully before unleashing everything in the pursuit of the win! The Fuego Flats sprint will likely start way further out than a traditional sprint, given the number of points on the line for the GC. Racers will need to stay alert to early moves and be ready to launch as soon as they see the attacks start flying!
The Race
The race started off in typical Zwift fashion: blazing fast. Team Canyon ZCC took to the front of the pack as the race set off towards the first points opportunity: the Fuego Flats sprint. With the road being so flat, it was far too easy for a mass of riders to form behind, and racers looked to position their teams for the sprint early on.
Our team moved up, putting all 5 riders near the front with just a kilometer to go before the sprint — paying very close attention to any unexpected attempts to break away to nab the sprint points. As one of the longest sprints in-game, the Fuego Flats sprint is rather technical: the road bends and the timing of the jump for the line varies with every single race.
As we approached the jump, team sprinters Holden Comeau and Ryan Larson were positioned perfectly — flying through the pack and landing 2nd and 3rd. The pack strung out over hundreds of meters, it looked like a few riders might be caught out, but as the sprinters caught their breath and looked to recover their legs, the racers behind brought the pack back together to settle in for the next 8km of pancake-flat roads.
Ryan and Dan positioned comfortably in the pack on the flat roads
The course's main feature being the Titan’s Grove National Forest, it became pretty evident that the racers were content waiting for it before trying to make any moves off the front. The pack lulled as it raced through the desert at 50kph. As the group neared the end of the flat section of course and left Saddle Springs for Titan’s Grove, the pace lifted immediately, and the group strung out with racers fighting to hold onto the pace.
When the group turned into the forest, Jim McQuaide from Team DRAFT pulled away from the group, daring racers to join him as the pack began rolling through the roller-coaster roads of Titan’s Grove. The pack pushed forward to close the gap quickly, not wanting to let anything get away before the intermediate KOM competition. The terrain through this section of course makes it impossible to set a steady pace — racers shifted gears endlessly to react to the punchy nature of the road.
As the race hit the KOM start line our team found the front, knowing that once the pace lifted on the steeper section of the KOM the speed would be so high that it would be nearly impossible to advance through the group. Our hunch was right, and our 3 riders aiming for the KOM points were positioned in the top-10 when the race for the KOM launched. The pack strung out massively and gaps opened which were impossible to close, nearly putting favored GC contenders out of the race. Ryan, Aaron, and Matt crossed the KOM line taking points towards the GC, and immediately looked to recover on the descent.
Rider to watch: Dan Fleeman
The road leading out of the forest is a net-downhill with just a few short rollers to contend with. After the KOM, a few small gaps had opened, but those recovering from the KOM race did not push the pace to extend the gaps, and quickly the group was all back together. Teams fought for position on the front and looked to get ready for the finish.
With only 1.3km to go, Team Belgian Zwift Riders (BZR) racer Daan Vermeulen attacked with a ghost powerup. Hidden from view, he launched himself to a 7-second lead on the pack at a key moment in the race. The racers looked around, waiting for someone willing to sacrifice their final result to bring the move back in. Indoor Specialist Dan Fleeman took to the front, activated his aero powerup, and pushed with everything he had; ramping the peloton’s speed up to reel in the move with just 800m to go.
With our team positioned well for the sprint, our 4 GC contenders were poised for the final move. At the sprint section’s starting line, the hunt was on: KISS Racing Team racer Jonathan Levie flew through the pack, instigating the surge for the finish. Chaos ensued and Holden was positioned perfectly, launching into the draft of Vujasin, coming around him just behind Levie at the line for 2rd, with Ryan, Matt, and Aaron not far behind.
This was near-perfect execution by our team to get as many racers into GC contention as possible in the series opener. Next week we’ll be racing on the Jungle Circuit, and we cannot wait to see what the race brings!
The (Provisional) Results
With just 2 opportunities for points before the finish in this short race, we knew going into the race that we would need to get as many of our team in the points before the finish.
Intermediate Sprint: Holden took 2nd and Ryan took 3rd!
Intermediate KOM: Ryan took 1st, Aaron took 4th, and Matt took 10th!
Finish: Holden took 2nd, Ryan took 7th and Matt took 11th, and Aaron finished 13th!
Overall, this was such an incredible showing for our team — we’re proud to have fought hard all race for points and to come out with two riders on the GC podium in this field! Link to the provisional results can be found here!
The Data:
All race data for our racers in the Pro-Am races is publicly available below: dig in!
Dan Fleeman
“What a great team effort today. We had control of the race from the start with all team members positioned well towards the front so we could follow any attacks and score maximum points in the sprints.
Inside the final 2km a dangerous breakaway had established a gap so I had to dig deep to close it down before the guys could finish the job with a fantastic sprint!”
Matt Gardiner
“That was just incredible! The team worked together flawlessly to execute our plan for the course. After a preview of the circuit in a race on Tuesday, we knew where to be positioned at key points in the race — the margin for error in these races is growing thinner and thinner. I’m so excited our team was able to get the results that we did! Bring on the next one!”
Aaron Coles
“What a great race for the team! With the slightly adjusted GC format for this Tour, contesting each prime was critical and we really put ourselves in a great position going forward! Personally, it was super gratifying to get a good result over the KOM! Can’t wait for the next one!”
Ryan Larson
“Today’s race was one for the books. The team worked flawlessly together and attacked like nothing I have seen in the past. Everyone was racing in the moment instead of racing for what was to come later. That is what racing is all about. Putting out everything and then giving a little more.”
Holden Comeau
“I was pleased with my performance today. Felt like I managed my effort well for the sprint and KOM points. They were committed efforts, but I tried to rely on game skill rather than maxing out the power. As a team, we were working together harmoniously. Dan's sacrifice at the end to bring back the early attack was so inspiring. That sort of thing creates a real sense of obligation to give everything I have.”
