On Friday, the Indoor Specialist team took on second race in the Zwift Classics: the Richmond Challenge. The Zwift Classics are set to be three standalone events: London International, Richmond Challenge, and the Crit City Slam. Each event presents different formats; whether it is a team race, a scratch race, or a points race—the changing format will make each event unique, challenging, and incredible to watch! This week’s race in Richmond is a team points format!

The Competition

The Men’s Zwift Classics features both the strongest amateur community teams on Zwift and UCI-level professional road teams, Olympic athletes and gold-medalists, and some of the strongest professional triathletes in the world! Bringing together amateur eSports teams and professional athletes shows exactly why racing on Zwift is so unique: the racing is a skill that takes time to perfect! While strength on the bike is very important, the demands of racing on Zwift are different 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 the Richmond Challenge event: David Talbott, Dan Fleeman, Holden Comeau, Matt Gardiner & Ryan Larson.

The Course

The second Zwift Classics event will take place on the 2015 UCI World Championship course in Richmond, Virginia. Race organizers are surely hoping to see someone be inspired by Peter Sagan and go for a solo-breakaway win from the 23rd street KOM — but first let’s dive into how we get to that famous climb!

Richmond starts with 8km of pancake-flat-but-cobbled roads. Traditionally, this stretch of road is calm and quiet as racers get ready for the course’s final 4km, but in the Tour de Zwift, there are 2 intermediate sprints over the flat section of course; the first sprint coming at 4km into the race, and the second sprint just 3km later. These two sprints are sure to mix up the racing and make the finale even more grueling than usual!

After the sprints are over, racers are given a brief kilometer of descent and flat before the race hits the first of 3 brutal climbs: Libby Hill. This climb is an all-out minute on cobbled road and the top-10 racers across the line will grab crucial points for their team. Racers will not want to be caught too far back after this climb, as the second KOM on 23rd street comes less than a minute later — power on this climb is more like a sprint than a climb: FULL GAS.

As racers crest the 2nd KOM, they are greeted with a glorious minute of descent and flat leading into the finale of this course on Governor Street. The drag-race sprint on this course is one of the toughest finishes on Zwift! But racers can’t celebrate too early…they have to do a second lap with all the sprints and KOMs before the finish!

The Race

In one of the most chaotic and painful events we’ve ever done we found our rhythm, stuck to the plan, and gave it everything we possibly could. Here’s how it went down:

Richmond’s start is always deceivingly difficult. While the race is flat for the first 8 kilometers, the pack seems to treat the opening kilometers like a time trial — pushing massive power and making the pace relentless. In the first 5 minutes, the average effort in the peloton was a staggering 6 watts-per-kilogram! That’s when the first sprint launched: Holden went all-in to set the stage for the team, taking maximum points in the sprint with Ryan crossing the line in 10th, putting our team in the lead.

With the next sprint opportunity just 3kms down the road, our team looked to stay situated near the front while recovering from the massive surge in the sprint. Ryan found good positioning as the race neared Broad Street, jumping into the slipstream of sprinters and crossing the line in 5th. A glorious 4.5km of downhill and flats were ahead for the racers before the start of the Libby Hill intermediate KOM. The racers settled in to recover and prepare, as the Libby Hill/23rd Street KOM/Governor’s Street trio of climbs is the hardest section of road in-game.

The race hit Libby full-tilt, and Matt and Ryan pushed through the string of racers towards the banner, crossing the line in 8th and 10th before easing off to recover as the chase looked to regain contact with the climbers. In just 500m laid the second intermediate KOM, and taking maximum speed into it is necessary. This time David lead the way, with Matt and Ryan close behind — the three racers crossed the line in 6th, 9th, and 10th, respectively.

At this point, just 17 minutes into the race, the field had been destroyed, just 40 racers remained in the lead group out of the 120 who had started the race. With just Governor’s Street climb and 5km of flat roads remaining before the next points opportunity, the pack eased off — content with the reduced selection ahead of the upcoming points competitions and finish.

As the racers hit the lap banner to begin the second and final lap, teams looked to maintain positioning near the front of the group. Ryan and Matt took to the front, ready to follow any potential moves in the race, and to be prepared for the sprint competition which approached quickly. The peloton ramped up the pace with 500m to the sprint and Matt and Ryan found the front. They launched and came across the line in 4th and 6th, grabbing crucial points for the team. The peloton surged and caught the sprint group, eliminating any chance for recovery as they headed into the second sprint.

Again, Ryan and Matt followed the sprint surge in the race’s final intermediate sprint with expert timing, coming across the line in 4th and 7th. Ahead of them laid two brutal KOMs and the finishing climb up Governor’s Street. At this point in the race, Dan and David had sat patiently, following wheels and reserving every ounce of energy possible.

The race hit Libby for the final time, and Ryan and David pushed through the pack to cross the KOM’s banner in 7th and 9th. While it’s hard to hit the KOM to cross the line in the points, the first to the top is the first to recover — Ryan and David did just that, sitting up and allowing the chase to absorb while they readied their legs for the 23rd Street KOM just 500m down the road. They hit the steep gradient and dug deep yet again, crossing the line in 5th and 2nd.

The team had hit every single points opportunity in the race — racking up an incredible number of points and heading into the finish in a tight battle with Vitus Pro Cycling and Team DRAFT, with Canyon ZCC close behind.

Dan, having sat in all race knows the Governor’s Street climb better than any racer in-game, and planned to attack the field with 700m to the finish. Vitus’ Joey Walker had made a similar calculation, attacking off the front with 800m to go. At the front, Dan was ready and followed after activating his Draft power-up, coming around Walker with speed and driving the pedals harder and harder with every pedal-stroke.

Dan’s gap grew to 15s on the peloton, but he didn’t let up — the closing meters of races can be closed quickly with Aero powerups and sprinting groups. Dan crossed the line with a decisive and dominant 7 second lead on the chase, taking home the single biggest individual win we have ever witness in Zwift racing. Check out the video below to see it in all of it’s glory!

The Results

In one of the most brutal races we’ve ever lined up for, our team came together like never before. Our racers took on each points opportunity, nabbing points through every single banner. The points we amassed put us narrowly in second behind Vitus Pro Cycling. In the finish, Dan took the overall individual win!

Link to the final results can be found here! Our racers went after every points opportunity as follows:

• Intermediate Sprint #1 - Holden (1st), Ryan (10th)

• Intermediate Sprint #2 - Ryan (5th)

• Intermediate KOM #1 - Matt (8th), Ryan (10th)

• Intermediate KOM #2 - David (6th), Matt (9th), Ryan (10th)

• Intermediate Sprint #3 - Matt (4th), Ryan (6th)

• Intermediate Sprint #4 - Ryan (4th), Matt (7th)

• Intermediate KOM #3 - Ryan (7th), Dan (9th)

• Intermediate KOM #4 - David (2nd), Ryan (5th)

• Finish: Dan (1st), David (8th), Ryan (24th)

The Data:

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

Dan Fleeman

“Last night as always we went into the race with a well thought out plan from team DS Matt Brandt. That plan was for Holden to cover the sprints on lap one which he did perfectly taking down maximum points, then Ryan and Matt to cover the KOMs and sprints on lap two, and myself and David to go for the finish. My plan was to attack with 700m to go on the steepest section of the finishing hill. Just before this point Joey Walker attacked and I knew he was a danger so I went early, using Joey as launch pad. I got a gap before the road flattened off and held on to take the win!

A close second for us in the team classification on the night further demonstrates what a strong unit team Indoor Specialist is. Everyone on the team played a vital role.”

Matt Gardiner

“This race was truly the greatest sporting event I’ve ever taken part in. The team truly worked together to achieve our best result possible, and I could not be more proud of these guys. Holden set the tone by taking the first sprint, Ryan and I chased the intermediate points with reckless abandon, David turned it up for the final KOMs and finish, and Dan launched the most dominant attack in Zwift racing history after patiently waiting all race. I’m so stoked to have been a part of that race!”

David Talbott

“The team points classification brought a new dynamic to the race rather than just waiting for the finishing climbs. We could definitely leverage our tactical prowess over the other teams. Matt Brandt, our DS for the day, was tremendously helpful over discord.

It was inspiring to see Holden, Matt, and Ryan battle it out for the sprints and KOMs. Dan saved as much as he could for the finale and uncorked a monster effort to win. As for myself, I’m happy that I could help grab some points at the end on governor’s and 23rd street climbs. All around it was an amazing team effort! The only bad part about the result is I promised Dan a crate of wine if he won so my wallet just got a bit lighter!”

Ryan Larson

“This Richmond Challenge Classics race was one of my absolute favorites. Everyone on our team came together to achieve a hard-earned second place in the teams classification. What made this race extra special was the fact that each individual on our team made a sacrifice, and every one of those sacrifices paid off.

Dan snatching the win at the end was electric and the icing on the cake. Indoor Specialist has always been a dominant team, but I think today we proved how strong the community teams really are.”

Holden Comeau

“We really put some pieces together today. There are so many new eyes on the sport right now, and it felt great to express ourselves with this big performance. My job was to hit the first two sprint points with everything and try to win them both. I’m really pleased I got the first one, but wasn’t expecting to need to dig so deep! By the time the second sprint line arrived, I had set my lifetime best power average for 9min. These races are just so fast! I’m so proud of Matt G and Ryan for getting to work and tallying up the bulk of our points through the middle of the race. And then Dan and David finished it off with such authority to get us the win. It was an amazing moment on the bike.”