Join us for the final race of Zwift Grand Prix 23-24
Support our men’s team at 21.15 cet in their rush to VICTORY
Epic pointsrace on Harrogate Pumproom 8 – 1 Lap
Ride like a Belgian
Women’s race at 20.15 cet
Men’s race at 21.15 cet
It’s getting started it’s on the T you’re the better Who To give me your loyalty cuz I’m taking the world you see they’ll be calling me calling me they’ll be calling me royalty give me a loyalty cuz I’m taking the RO you see be call me call me’ll be calling me Royal Me the cages why take it me I gu never every time I break just more pain never never [Applause] never the B Loyalty be calling me calling me you’ll be calling me royalty loyalty CU I’m taking the RO you see that we got be got be calling me Royal calling me Royalty call me Royal They’ll be calling me Roy seeing monsters at your window know you can’t sleep you pretend though you don’t have to play the Hero cuz I got you like you got me when the earth shakes when the bombs scream until I last breath every Heartbeat you know I’ll come Run you go to war then I’m going with you up my SW yeah there’s nothing I won’t do when you found me Al when the chaos is rising leading the jge ding out fighting on the breath that I bre I’ll never drink I’ll be [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Your When night real life and the gr filled up with we will face it standing sh by sh you know I’ll come running when you need I’m coming you know I’ll come on you go to war then I’m going with you pick up my store yeah there’s nothing I won’t
Do when you s alarm and the chaos ising lead the GE f s on the bre I bre never A [Applause] I’m going with you pick up my sword yeah this nothing old do when you sound the alarm and the chaos is rising Le in the charge I’m coming a fight I swear on the breath that I breathe I’ll never Trey light fre and the candles glitter like you’re in the Thriller gy figes they can get so better sure you want to enter you can you don’t you don’t know where I been what’s going on ins take over the the series lead and win the series outright in this the seventh
And Final Round let’s have a look in the women’s series there are four teams who welcome the Ladi and is first three Sprint and are always the first non-scoring Rider then you’re absolutely exhausted for the finale as well that is another problem here isn’t it assessing who’s ahead of you yeah that’s a big one and we’ve seen that actually in the past with Point Hunters where you
Had people take a lot of risk up front and then the pressure is on immediately after that and there’s not a lot of time between the uh the points that are available and so you go all in and you’ve expended all this energy and then next thing you know you it’s really
Difficult from that point forward to compete with those who have been sitting in and kind of waiting there is a lot of opportunity though on this course for some of the teams to perhaps use those Sprint points as lead outs even though you could Counterattack some of those
Places you know there is it there’s this is short enough with the landscape that’s available between these Sprint points for teams to play a little bit of tactics with what happens on each of them or they could race a little bit negatively or a little bit like controlled and settle things down and
Just wait it’ll be interesting to see how much risk is actually taken I have a feeling that some of the teams that are a little bit further down but still have a chance at winning or the teams that are just like look we got nothing to lose and just want to have a
Good day out there we might see some crazy tactics coming from them I haven’t yet considered Nathan and I’ve never seen this either I don’t know if you have the concept of one team of five Riders smashing it from the start going into a team time trial format and just
Taking out the first five points I’d have to get my calculator out and work out what they could get there as well they’d be scoring first and second and first first second third points of those Sprint points I wonder mathematically I can’t work that out in my tiny brain
Nathan but have you ever seen that before yeah I actually think it’s not the worst tactic in the world uh you’re rolling the dice a little bit to say that the other teams aren’t going to score as much as you are by doing that but you can if it works you can solidify
For sure a certain amount of points that might be better at the end of the day than everybody else that because they’re competing so much for the larger points at at the end so definitely a tack that could work up front right well we’ll keep a very close eye on how we think
The teams are unfolding things thank you Nathan for that um Matt let’s have a look at the Riders being brought because in both the men’s and women’s races there are a few teams who’ve had last minute issues as well it’s a tricky time of year people getting ill and what have
You right at the end of the series uh let’s talk through who we know we have got though well let’s have a look at the the lower end of the rankers prore racing Without Borders there with that wonderful multinational team Sweden Germany Great Britain um Denmark and the Netherlands represented there moving on
To Rocka corba collective in the all red currently in 15th Place what can they do final rle of the dice as you see this one is really worth going all in if you can and I’m sure they’ll have the attitude and the drive to do that BL 13
Um led by Megan Anderson there looking I think to move up remember this is the final shake up and because the double points every team even lower down the rankings can improve their position uh in the twift gr Prix and then finally in this first trunch of teams we have Team
Castelli currently sat in 13th now AA Synergy are looking to see if they can be inspired by the performance of their men’s team who are doing so well in the men’s race of course they sit in 12th Place with that super multinational team quite in contrast to the all German team of beast
Mode who are in 11th in the black with the very aggressive looking golden line let’s see if they can bring the force tonight next Esports also hopefully inspired by their men who are definitely challenging tonight for the series lead their women sit in 10th Place leg by
Greg Abbott in the green and blue and mby star are in ninth um with um three Swedish Riders and they’ll be looking for M soda drum I suspect to try and hang on to that final Sprint she stands a good chance I suspect of being in
Contention for the uh the six points at the Finish Line Maybe indeed let’s move on to sarth Who currently occupy eighth position again another wonderful multinational team of course Gabby aguera there as well of course Nathan will be watching with interest no doubt only a few meters away uh from hery performed exceptionally
Well last week of course could be a key Rider tonight on the Sarah Squad as they look to move up team Swedish zwifters unsurprisingly the all Swedish team currently sat in seventh a lot of experience in that team can they what can they do to combine and to do
Something special tonight team 2024 Unfortunately they have lost a couple of riders with sickness so are only Fielding three Riders Katherine fura meline C and Maran P there for Canada and finally before we move into the top four Toyota Elite Lucy Harris I think could perform well on this course and of
Course uh they can’t move up to the win but I think they can move in and seriously Target the podium spot so watch out for those guys on to the Final Four reminder all four of these teams mathematically could win the overall Series tonight hexagon the French team
In fourth uh Wahu l call by the way little bit note on them sitting in third place last year’s second place finishes they’ve had two changes tonight Zoe langum and Francis Owen two of their strongest Riders actually still listed there but I can tell you they’re out they’re replaced by Joe Patterson and
Rachel Brown so a last minute change for Wula call Will that have an effect on how they play things aonian last year’s winners currently sitting in second but as we know 22 points behind the dominant team of the series in fact I would argue the most dominant team of the series men
Or women Coalition Alpha in first place all the big players there with les Bridge Bates Wilkinson sidick and Paul can they bring it one last time we have just 48 seconds to go until race start that’s all the Riders locked and loaded as we know a couple of teams sadly for
2024 who started so well the American team down to just three Riders so their chances of scoring big on the night and not great we could see them slipping well even out of that top 10 potentially an opportunity for others like Swedish swifters and saris to move up Matt
Nathan buckle up big as we are ready and so are the Riders on the start line 27.5 km to go around the Royal pump room 8 in the virtual world of Yorkshire based on those Yorkshire 2019 World Road cycling championships is mirroring very closely the final finishing circuit that was
Used on the edge of the park there if any any of you there there in real life you’ll know that the park alongside the Riders right now was absolutely soaked because it lashed down with rain all week it was classic Yorkshire weather none of that today because in zift world
It is beautifully sunny and shiny here we go heck again right at the front and the Riders are off who is going to go for these first Sprint points it comes after only 2.6 km at the Sprint reverse point after this first one we have a much bigger gap of some 10 km
Until the next Sprint point this first one if they want to get some distance between them and the other Riders Matt they’re going to need to go very soon yeah you can all already see just the shape of the the bunch here as they head uh that this is basically the way that
The race would normally finish heading out um initially um as you’re looking at the the squad of Coalition Alpha um back to my point about the shape of the race uh they are moving pretty quickly here uh they are moving very very quickly indeed just down the Descent give a wave
To to Scotty and give away to the Brew House spent many hours in there a few years back just on the corner there but no this is going to be fascinating as you said this are first Sprint absolutely crucial those first two roders will lose and as we move through
These points more and more roders will drop out the race and I would imagine and I think it’s probably worth bringing Nathan in in just a few moments time to talk about that that they this can’t be left to chance every team here will have already one would imagine designated
Somebody to try and attack early as we see Klein moving clear from beast mode Julia Klein has gone solo now don’t forget let me remind you at this first Sprint point which comes after only 2.6 km only two Riders can score points two points for the winner one point for the
Second place so if they go for this and don’t come across the line it’s going to be a problem Nathan strong early move by beast mode this is Julia kleene who’s gone clear look sensible doesn’t it yeah it’s a big risk I think you know it
Could also be a little bit of a draw out right so so there is a big tactic when it comes to um baithing out energy from other teams and then one of your main Riders that’s actually going for the points will come up and over the top
We’ll see I would have a feeling perhaps if CLE Cent will take them but there may be somebody waiting in the fold here to try and come over the top yeah um you can just just to let people know what they’re seeing on the big screen as well off the right hand
Side are the current positions of the Riders underneath each of their names is their watts per kilo I know all the zwift regulars will know that but if you’re tuning into to our YouTube channel here for the first time that’s what you’re seeing it’s an exact measuring of the watts per kilogram of
Body weight for each of these Riders everything’s been ratified the Riders have been weighed in all of the the the bikes and the equipment is completely neutralized by the way so despite the fact you’re seeing loads of different colored Tron bikes and all sorts of equipment being used everything is
Neutralized it’s all down to the rider’s individual performance and look at that Klein has gone from front to back yeah that was uh I mean that was a good play there was clearly a plan she’ obviously warmed up got completely focused and attack but there’s so much uh at stake
Here these early points absolutely crucial of course and now it is team Swedish zwifters that are clear the first two roders farron and eming now eming a real OG she has been on the scene for a long time now enormously experienced and she’s putting out 7.2
Watts a kilo 170 beats a minute she’s opened up a slender lead of a second is it going to be enough if they head up this nasty little dragon just see top right of the screen there that shows you the incline the percentage gradient it’s almost imperceptible but you definitely
Feel it up this long grad with a good move here by eming yeah and she’s got company there as well as we’re getting closer and closer to that final Sprint and it’s exagon and AA Synergy going for it um I’ve got to work out the kilometers here
25 km covered we must be almost at the Sprint point there it is it’s going to be so close between these two exagon get the maximum two points one point for AA Synergy well both teams of of course uh right up there in the classification exagon sitting in fourth so that’s
Droven who’s got the first two points uh and Penna for ABA Synergy who gets the one those two Riders now sit up and they are out of the race as well but they’ve scored crucially for their team a roll over the top now from saris noin and
Another move rolls over the top once again exagon are in it so the French team in those golden jerseys black shorts are well up for this they’ve picked up uh well sorry at the next little rise they’ll pick up a feather power up um Matt do you want us to explain in PL
Language for people who maybe don’t know their zift too well what the feather power up can do for you yeah it just it basically makes them 10% lighter um for a peri of I think it’s 15 or 30 seconds actually depending um yeah I think it is
15 no 15 seconds is it makes them lighter for so just it’s a power up you only want to use on a climb and at best a steeper climb and we do have several pretty steep climbs on this course we’re talking about them at the top of the
Show especially the climb with about four or 5 km to go and even the one about 3ks before that just over the little humpback bridge that is very steep indeed but only yeah only one power up on this particular race but on this course you definit that is the
Power up that you want in there’s not much flat at all in fact one of the flatter sections as you can see here is just before we approach the finish this would have been the way that they took it in the world championships for real
Um five years ago it is and this Bunch has already started to shrink down a little bit as they just kick up a little bit 9 or 10% before the road flattens they’ll go through the finish and then swing a right and then it’s a long
Straight drag it’s a one of the longest climbs on the circuit although I’d only really call it a drag rather than a big climb but several rers were dropped off that really frantic start I tell I wanted to ask a question jez to uh to Nathan if we can just bring Nathan in
For a second uh just this we’ve talked about this race this particular format Maan being enormously nuanced do you think that every team would have would have looked at every single Rider with a very specific role but within that a little bit of uh a little bit of lateral play how how okay
To super 100% the for the the over there could be several teams that well many teams that don’t actually score any points uh tonight at all um so that that’s going to be an an interesting one so they’re really really scarce um and so massively important um
I think to to have a plan but also to react as well but hag this is this is clearly a play by hag who’s now opened up her lead at to just just about 10 seconds a good move she’s riding and holding between 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 Watts a
Kilo on this dragon as you can see at the top right hand corner of your screen this is 5% it goes on for about two or 3 kilometers and that great picture in picture there shows you she’s fully out of the saddle using that uh that high well high torque low Cadence technique
Which many of these Esports Riders use this is the long very draggy climb that caught a lot of Riders by surprise riding out of Harriet the start of it turning away from the park was where in the men’s race matu Vanderpool just literally pulled the plug didn’t he he
Was in that leading group and um I think actually I I’ve really enjoyed the the London world I enjoyed the fact that uh of course on the in that that uh um uh where were we the PRL half London course that that s had been pulled up to
Replace the whole south of London last week this week this week’s World in Yorkshire is incredibly true to life as well the amount of detail that’s gone into this mirroring the course at haraga is remarkable but this is a this is a testy uh ride you you I think IRL Matt
Would have ridden that finishing circuit as well in Harriet like I did and and this was and it’s mimicking Mimi mimicking it here in zwift very clearly uh kind of um imperceptible drag just hard enough to make it really work and then this particular section they’ve gone up they’ve absolutely rocketed well
Uh hag has rocketed up that she’s opened up the lead it did Max out a few seconds ago while you were talking there just about 14 15 seconds it’s back down to 11.7 and it’s Motas of exagon who was trying to get across the Gap but she’s been mopped up and this particular
Section it still arrows straight to the top part of the circuit where they will swing right and start to kick up a bit more before dropping down the very fast descent to pick up another drag this is almost like a roller coaster so you can really carry a lot of momentum here and
Save a lot of energy if you uh if you apply the power to the pedals on this particular straight so we’ve gone down and now we’re picking up again as you can see 2% and just is still holding a lead of just under 8 seconds so this Gap
Certainly isn’t cut and dried and there’s certainly an eagerness to potentially bring her back from behind multiple teams taking PS on the front yes it’s the long ride out into the uh the Rolling Hills in amongst the sheep and the Farmland well away from Harriet itself um must must stop talking
About those IRL worlds in 2019 but this is where the various different campsites were out this way so many fans camping out and enjoying watching the racing and the reason I bang on about it Matt we banging on about a little bit is that the wonderful thing about um zwift is
That we get to kind of preserve that world of Harriet that so many people enjoyed IRL on our televisions and then get to relive it again and again and again in racing totally and in it’s fantastic I I couldn’t agree more it’s uh it’s almost um we live in this modern
But it’s almost quite nostalgic every time I ride on this world and it is one of my favorites when when it’s a when it’s a choice to ride on I generally do hop on and do this very circuit the Royal pump room eight as we look at the
Uh the bunch chasing Behind still on this long straight road um but she’s managed to pull out ha her lead now to 8.9 seconds but just look at her heart rate 4.4 Watts a kilo and by far unsurprisingly she’s got the highest heart rate at the moment 195 beats a
Minute as the road just starts to drop before it kicks up again to that right hander there’s another little drag of about 4% and then there’s that really fast little descent with a switch back before the the next drag up to the next right-hander yeah that heart rate is a
Lot higher than almost any of the other riders in there she is working that bit harder the watts per kilo indicate that as well always knocking somewhere just above five watts per kilo she is working well 5 to six Watts pilo consistently since she attacked um Alisa ha here the German
Rider from riding for beast mode who sit in 11th place but Matt this is what I’m talking about she’s chosen the longest gap between Sprints to go for a solo break if she gets just before it and comes fourth because there’s only three two and one points here this will have
Counted for nothing other than the fact we’re talking about her and she may find herself caught by the pelaton and be out behind them as well yeah but she’s built the lead up again so she’s really persisted there’s no real cohesion in terms of an organized Chase as you can
See and just by the shape of the bunch behind it’s not in that teardrop it’s quite bunched across the bunch in this particular position almost as wide as it is long just showing that they backed off ever so slightly so much in fact the leader shot up now to 13 and a half
Seconds um but so very interesting and as as we thought this bringing Nathan again um Nathan I think it’s fair to say that although we’ve seen a lot of aggression so far um because this is so complex it also could become very not so much negative but exceptionally tactical
And we should we could see the the Pelon really back off the pace a bit because they don’t need because if she does take these points she’s then out of the race and we’ve got essentially a hard res haven’t we yeah and I think I also think if you
Look at this pop Bank descent I think that that’s a big reason why the Riders are kind of the Alicia hug at this point she’s trying to open up enough of a gap that it doesn’t get eaten completely away at on the descents and this is one
Of the first times at the very very high level we’ve actually been back on this specific course since new pack Dynamics were uh developed actually that that don’t reward the roll through speed quite as much of the big pelaton and so hog and beast mode and and they got some
Good DS’s in there they know that they’re in the back of their heads going hey with new pack Dynamics and the ability to stay away perhaps the downhills isn’t going to roll through quite as much unless they really work to bring her back and now you can see the
Pressure coming on though from Motas they want to bring this back before they hit the bottom of the clim as you can see but did you see how much time came back on pop bake descent I think the pack was really trusting that and now taking that momentum forward by the way
Chaps I don’t know if you’ve noticed this I don’t know whether we can just bring up Alisa hag’s picture again picture in picture there um we’re focusing very much on what’s going on in the game in real life though if I’m not mistaken her handlebars have turned to
The right slightly looks like her setup may be failing on her a little bit there I don’t know whether her front wheel bracket has come loose but she’s actually turning across herself as of so slightly and she’s getting company right now this is Motas who we’ve seen going
Beast mode have started with ser serious intent tonight 3 2 and one seconds available not for another 3K though but this is an overlap and ha now I think starting to really feel it look at the watch pilo starting to drop a little bit too Y and also her feather light as well
Sorry Matt yeah should know again quite often you’ll see Riders use the featherweight power up to attack of course U but quite often if you’re if you’re overtaken or you’re struggling to hold the wheel and you you really need to stay in contention that that’s when
You’ll use your power up and that’s what we saw hag dropped it just as Motas went by just to give her a little bit of extra assistance um but that part of the climb wasn’t particularly steep it flattens here only for about 2 300 Metter and then it really starts to pick
Up into the Descent and then we’ve got that little hair pin and then it kicks up and then we’ve got another exceptionally long drag where we’ll get the next amount of points of this next climb coming up after this descent is a pretty hard one it’s a good TW minute
Effort two and a bit two and a half minute eff approximately it’s steep as well isn’t it Matt it’s particularly steep comes at 14.3 km to go so she’s got couple of K 2K to keep this going I actually thought at one point there it looked like Alisa
Hag was going to get on Motas back wheel tried to drop the uh the power up to get back on it’s not work though and I think we could see her being fed back into the peleton and she deserves better than that actually because she really built
Up a great lead but it’s it’s it’s all about the timing isn’t it and she went by the looks of it went too early if she’d done it a bit later like we’ve seen Motas do here I think with the power she had it might have worked oh
Totally she’s not quite been caught yet we’ve got Motas in the super tuck um just saving that little bit of energy before as you said that road really kicks up but hag is at 6 seconds behind Motas and then 25 seconds behind our French leader of the peleton led by
Steph kutuk here is the peleton behind so there’s a big gap so hag herself still has 20 seconds over the pelaton as Matas just at the right time deploys the Federate the power up so good tactical um yeah deployment of that power up especially on that steep part of the
Climb so it looks as if Motas one would imagine unless something catastrophic happens she should stay away to take the maximum points and disappear from the race but hag is still eight n nine seconds behind but a big gap now but of course the Pelon don’t need to worry too
Much at the moment because this isn’t a race winning move this is what we have to constantly remind ourselves this is a break that will serve a purpose all being well for that team she’ll score the three points but then she will be gone and then we’ll have this reset and
The race will essentially start again Yep this is massive Matt we’ve got to look at this and say hexagon who was sitting in fourth place coming into the day they are now looking to score maximum points in the first two sprints they were only they started they only
Four points off the podium Four Points behind wul l call who we know have had problems with a late change to their start list the French team in the orange exagon here are playing this Absol absolutely perfectly and there’s massive Gap now look at the Gap behind her 18 19
Seconds 20 seconds back to the pelaton which is led by Mary Wilkinson as well Motas has absolutely flown and she will be taking those three points y definitely any moment now that’s cly yep but she’s got a little bit further to go but 18 seconds so got this little right
Hander and then the road gets steeper again it’s a horrible climb it’s steep at the bottom then flattens a bit then kicks up again uh at the point you don’t want it to just after this mini roundabout the rent flattens slightly then goes up again and then it’s only
Within the last 300 M you actually get the finishing Banner in sight it steepen there we go steepens up to four five maybe 6% on this particular section and you can see the archway in a few seconds time as we look at Harris who’s trying
To go for second place here she’s now 15 seconds behind Motas who looks like she is going to take the points and uh drops her power up for Toyota Elite e cycling so it’s going to be a real battle for the second and third place here yes it
Is to Elite don’t forget Sid in fifth place one place behind exagon going into today as well they’re not within contention of taking a series lead but they’re certainly getting closer if Harris can stay clear to thinking about that Podium uh look at the gaps though actually Harris is getting company there
Motas we know is going to stay clear she takes three points second Sprint point this on top of the K she’s taken three who’s going to get the two and one don’t forget Harris now is going to get nothing out of this despite all that hard work and it’s Coalition Alpha Mary
Rinson is out of the race she’s taken two and the final Point goes to aonian so it’s the very top teams who are hoovering up the points here as well it’s cruel isn’t it Matt I came into today honestly I haven’t mentioned it yet I’m desperate for prore racing
Without Borders to get a point today in the series and uh I just want them to try something because they’re there they’ve got Riders there in that pack but it’s so hard when you’re up against the very very best riders in the world it is indeed the likes of Mary Wilkinson
Go for those early points and that’s a big gamble when you look at the the composition of a coalition alfit and how important Mary Wilkinson is especially you know running on home home soil she’s from the north of England you know um she um rides along the roads of
Yorkshire but she’ll be now out of the race but she’s done well and she’s scored some very very important points because the tally so far as you can see on the left hand side exagon leading with five they have had a blinding start to this race and remember um if you just
Joined us and apologies for keep reminding you but is double points on offer so their top four placing could change and nothing is set in stone yet no crucially by the way the team the riders that Lucy Harris is going past are out of the race now of course
Because she didn’t score any points she was the first non-point scorer but of course she was well clear of the peleton so she keeps going now and it leaves her in the lead and it’s not long to the next Sprint Point there’s only two kilometers that separate of course the
King of the mountains from the Sprint back where we were they then go around a little bit of a loop and they reverse what what we’ve just done that’s why it’s called the Royal pump room eight it goes back in the opposite direction of figure of eight and we have Lucy Harris
The British Rider riding for Toyota Elite who came into the day sitting in fifth place now cleared by herself 5 Seconds lead over her own teammate the Finish Rider in oh she’s well somebody’s gone straight over the top Co it’s almost as if she was slingshotted there kin
Dropping a featherweight power up as well uh just to help her efficiency up this long climb there’s a steep part just in the center there it once you you carry a lot of speed into that particular climb and you can really travel quite a lot of the way but then
The gradient starts to bite then it eases but continues to drag on as you can see at 2% before the right-hander and it won’t be very long at all before we actually go through that intermediate Point these are as we said they’re very densely packed before there’s about a 5k
Gap to the final one but this is a good move uh by chist I think there’s about 400 meters to go now M after this turn by the looks of it and they’re closing in too it’s not just her uh Katy Hill Alice Lethbridge also right there exagon still
In the mix as well with pruss the French woman trying to close up the gaps and it’s coming back together but it’s coming back together in a little leading group bubble as well all the time the colors of Coalition Alpha look at them on the right hand side of the screen
Just massing near the front that was the point we’ve just gone through it haven’t we I think that’s it there and Quan has just taken that so at this point here there are four three2 and one points and they’ve all been taken by that little leading group there’s the points scored
Off the left hand side at the Yorkshire Sprint konin for toture elite taking four points Katy Hill of aonian in second Alice Lethbridge of our leading team Coalition Alpha taking two points and prow of exagon still scoring more points the French team I think Matt we
Are looking at a situation here where we could see I’m pretty certain we’re going to see exagon challenging seriously challenging Wahu lall we’ barely mentioned Wahu lall so far and they’ve they’ve had to change their lineup I wonder whether that’s part of it yeah there’s a I mean they are really laying
Down the gaunlet today I think it’s fair to say that across both the men’s and women’s teams and I have said it for the last three or four weeks they have been the standout uh breakthrough team of theth Grand Prix this year but we’ve only got I mean the gap between that
Sprint and the next one only a very slender 3.2 km and they are rattling long they are really eating up this virtual Tac on this Yorkshire circuit before we get to the next uh set of points let’s bring in Nathan again just to get your assessment Nathan of what’s
Been going on what a ride so far by exagon but Coalition Alf and ionian only two points behind mate yeah and there’s a lot of points up for grabs though at the back end of this course which is really making things really interesting like you said up
Front Matt there’s teams that are going to go for those early points they’re going to trust that we saw some great moves in there that was absolutely amazing for that Sprint she went from the absolute bottom of that punch up into the Sprint with a ton of momentum
Got the Gap she was then caught though but able to hold on right at the line four score now four out now we’ve got the km though uh again and then a downhill and pot bank is looming in the distance that’s a big question mark after this K about how this finish is
Going to play out is it a breakaway is it a grind over the top to that uh climb that they took on of uh when they came through the Finish lap or is it just a pack Sprint if everybody can hang on about 22 ERS left too it’s a large group
Still yes and your wife Gabby who is just alongside you I think Nathan I can just hear the sound of her turbo trainer she’s now taking the lead of this group with her teammate too there wisman and Guera right at the front for SAR snow pins looking good how’s she looking IRL
To your right I think Nathan or left calm very calm uh and uh concentrated super concentrated I can’t really she’s she’s she’s playing at KI today she’s not that showing a whole lot of which tells me she’s super focused real focused right now oh I love this this is wonderful because she’s hearing
Your in real life commentary on her in the same room while it’s going out around the whole world on our YouTube channel as well that’s a unique opportunity that hey we’re getting closer thank you Nathan 10 kilm to go the final King of the mountain Point
Comes with 8.8k to go they’ve got to ride back out in that direction they’ve gone around this little Loop now and this is where they complete the figure of eight by going back out to that King the mountain Sint after that there will be uh 8.8 km of sorting the themselves
Out before that final Sprint don’t forget at this next k k there is 5 4 3 2 and one points for the first five across the line and that will leave 66 Riders yet to score of which only six can score on the very final finish line there is
The points scored so far uh exagon having a brilliant day scoring every single point so far first first and fourth but toyoto Elite showing real intent at the last one too to try and move up notably it’s uh kind of rallying of the teams who are in fourth and fifth
Uh Matt dare I say it no mention really of Wahu l call so far I’m feeling for them they were second in the series last year in the inaugural zift Grand Prix tonight they look a bit on the back foot let’s see they certainly do as as we
Were just saying there’s still a lot of points to be taken you can just see that very uh helpful graph on on the bottom left of your screen the next um the next Sprint point that they will par through the queen of the mountains is 5432 And1
They’ve got to do something special here they’re still not out of it but what they cannot cannot afford to do is miss out on points on this particular Sprint let’s have a look team this big big launch and some powerups been dropped here it is Bates who’s going clear for
Coalition Alpha yeah she wants to get those five points if she can we know that she’s been in this series mat I think it’s safe to say l bites has actually been unmatched in uphill Sprints Rises long drags things like that she has been and I well the others
Will know just how dangerous this is and they might even dare I say they might even think about not trying to challenge but not yet though arol thearon going after the two top teams Racing for top points here first team and second team Coalition Alpha and aonian going for this
One well bait cor you can’t see it’s literally just around the corner as they as they swing around this mid roundabout they will see it but looks like Bates is going to get it she’s fading ever so slightly but she has indeed done enough there second then hold Croft and ettien from exagon
Also scoring again there fantastic stuff yes well you say fantastic stuff Matt don’t forget these Riders can’t score anymore after this point so even though they’re getting in amongst the 54321 points available there if you get the one and you were feeling really good you might now be kicking yourself thinking I
Had a chance of getting those six at the Finish Line because that following group isn’t massive that’s definitely not the 66 Riders left in the race in fact we’ve just seen Riders rolling through on this figure of eight course going in the opposite direction so we know there’s
Been a lot of riders dropped and here is one of the big Riders upand cominging Riders of the series Colombia do you remember in the last round how long she was out there for on the London course by herself Matt she’s not going to do it
Again is she look at this well she’s timed this effort well I’m not going to say she’s timed it to Perfection just yet but 88.2k too remember as you correctly said as she went just over the top of boxill and stayed away to the Finish which she was joined by another
Rider it was a a quite incredible ride an unexp expected one but she has been reabsorbed and no more points out on the road until the Finish now remember and it is Coalition Alpha heading in to the all important final Sprint who lead now with nine points ion in second equal
There with exagon with eight and then Toyota scoring finally with four so um and just a small clutch of roders but these these next two climbs Al there there’s no points to be scored at the Top This is Where I think the stronger rods are going to come to the four and
Try and Whittle it down because as you know jez this next climb is hard and then the next next one after that which only comes 2ks over the top is brutally Steep and the hardest climb on the Yorkshire course and that’s where I think we’re going to definitely see some
Attacks what an elite leading group as well this is not the pelaton what’s left of the Riders this is now a leading group with many many more Riders behind them 66 Riders have not scored 66 Riders have not been eliminated and this is what remains of the the front end of the
Race now I mentioned would it be M Sodom for mobistar who’d be battling for those final point she’s right there the Mobby Star Rider two Riders from saris noin Gabby Guerrera there trying to get back up to columia who’s gone again I wonder whether she has something more we saw
Her go how many times did she attack on Box Hill last week Matt it was multiple times wasn’t it it it was I mean we were almost thinking is this the right thing to do it’s she’s a rider that we haven’t really talked about too much but that
Was a real burst onto the scene LA last week it was a spectacular race but what I was impressed with was her ability to recuperate after attacks and look at the damage behind and we we knew that this particular section would be right for trying to rip things apart and that S is
Doing Hammer blow after hammer blow and there’s another stiff climb to come off this one Nathan so so impressed by Columbia she’s taken these last two races really by the Scruff of the neck hasn’t she yeah Columbia is dangerous for sure we’ve seen it the last couple of races
She’s definitely one to be watching out for a marked person and she has been going at the absolute perfect times roll through speed attacking the downhills taking it to the racers when she knows everyone’s hurting that’s when you got to go right the those who are experienced in racing when everyone’s
Hurting that’s when the breaks are going to happen and that’s exactly what she’s probably thinking is I know I’m hurting right now so they’ve got to be too Nathan you’re such a professional you’re such a professional because your wife is locked on her wheel about a meter away
From your sitting right now Gabby is locked onto her back wheel you’re such a professional you’re not even mentioning it you’re allowed to mention her oh they’ve got company and it’s Wahu l call mustering things at the last can they bag up the points and Salvage their
Third place on the podium It’s All Coming Back Together at the front end again 6.4 a to go to the Finish where there will be 65 43 21 points available and at the moment that little leading group that’s forming there could take all of them M sodom’s gone off by
Herself though while we were watching that she’s overlapped right at the front of that group yeah there’s a four R sorry five rods are clear it is a colomi SX F of of course Gabby Gua is just leading at the moment and Sodom they have a 3 and 1 half second lead over
Brune of beast mode atken is there and Lis Vander holing is also there for next Esports uh and then well the the first six places where the points are going to be scored are spread and there’s a desperate chase behind the group just behind this one to get back in contact
They need to do it with the next couple of hundred meters using the momentum of this descent because in a few well in about five or 600 meters time we get up to a very very steep climb indeed it is it’s a wall it’s the nearest thing we
Have on zwift saf for the climb to the tower on out to zwift um as a as a as as a Muro an Italian for wall it really is very Steep and I’m expecting uh jez for this group to split again and I think we will see the Italian Colombia go on the
Offensive one more time to finally snap the elastic she seemed to have the ability to go again on there she is at the front on the um the clim Box Hill last week here she’s not even waiting to the steepest part Matt either just going to the front surging a little bit let’s
Watch the wats pilo she’s cut it now CU she’s rolling on like 1.3 watts per kilo slightly downhill into the dip this is going to set up that tough final rise nicely Sarah noin with two riders in this leading group this is a great ride by the team who started the day in
Eighth place they could well be seeing themselves move up not least big as 2024 only started with three Riders great opportunity for the women in white and pink indeed well we’ve got nine Riders left in this this group as see a few powerups so sod Strom has dropped her
Power up as has brune of Germany in fact there’s multiple powerups been used on this clim look at this 8 9 10 look at the double digits there 12% but it continues to rise as well it’s a b a good strong move by their swed Sodom but
Latching on to her back wheel is fura of Switzerland and a gab’s there as well looking good pis snow pins half a second behind there she is out of the saddle no powerups been us but look at that she’s managing to move through as the grad continue into double digits and again
Just bring in Nathan briefly Nathan just explain how hard it is to recover on this little drag even down the other side this is arguably I think the hardest part on this course to get oh to to recover and go again isn’t it 100% this is where the break happens right
Now over the top of this and you can see exactly that’s what Colombia waited for now it’s whether or not you want it I remember so many times trying to to hang on exactly at this moment over the top you start just looking down at your feet
And dragging the heels as much as you can for every last bit of power and speed that you can find this is the race winning move well columbe look at this knocking out the close to Six watts per kilo just consistently tapping away and she’s going to well it looks like she’s just
She’s even going better than last week on the London course as well this is a shot of her from the from the front IRL in the left of the screen there look at that heart rate 182 not quite as high as it was but uh she is working incredibly
Hard no one getting any draft benefit from her as we bring up the draft cone there either far enough in in advance to just be plowing her own Furrow Gabby Guerrera is chasing yeah she Gabby go yeah this is this is this little downhill section as
You can see uh minus 2% they’ll swing left they’ll continue on this little downhill section and then we we’re basically going on on this reverse roller coaster section we swing left we lose elevation all the way into the heart of uh of harut but there are a
Couple of nasty little drags on the run in here but this is what colomi has done so well in the past she’s only a very light Rider but on that fla section down there that we just saw a few moments ago J he was still putting out um well in
Excess of 6 seven Watts a kilo this is mightily impressive and Gabby guer now fading a little bit she’s at 6 seconds so the first five Riders are at 6 seconds and the final Rider on the road that will score points at the moment is Brun of beast mode powerb Rose and she’s
A whopping 15 and further behind her um for the Seventh Place Rider on the road is 23 seconds so it looks as if the points on the road between the top six are sorted but not necessarily the order so good riding here by Colombia who continues to power along gosh she really
Is uh she really is hanging on to this let’s remind ourselves that Riders from Seven down on the right hand side there in those positions if they stay in the positions they’re in they’ll score nothing tonight nothing at at all for their team what a hard way to be doing
It as well incredibly hard this woman is unbelievable look at the Gap behind her 12 and a half seconds now back to Gabby Guerrera Who Won’t Give Up chasing either but um well coli absolutely no doubt about it Selen colomi the revelation of this year’s whiff Grand
Prix for the women in fact overall I don’t I can’t think of any of the men who’ve made a kind of breakthrough like she has and here we are coming towards the final points look at the points scored down there it is quite the Breakthrough Matt isn’t it oh it
Certainly is I mean it’s R of the I think it’s fair to say that I don’t recall um talking too much about but it’s a real a real um yeah a real breakthrough last week and it’s her tenacity and she she clearly knows how to break the will of everybody else on a
Difficult course like this she’s got that ability to go go again go again and almost bludgeon the other opposition into submission like a boxer was with with their opposition on the ropes it’s it’s quite brutal to see but it’s devastatingly effective 2.7 km to go and
She now has a lead over Gabby Guera and F and simen and Brun is now joined up and srom so they the F the next five Riders on the road are all joined together and we have a big gap to the next group as a featherweight PowerUp is
Dropped just on this little drag so she’s using her featherweight power up just at the right time to possibly even extend her lead here jez yeah 2 and a2k to go coming back into harria to the Finish Line to bring it all to its conclusion to conclude a
Whole winter of racing that started all the way back on the 19th of October and rolling through Christmas New Year and now into let’s Call it spring in Europe anyway but wherever you’re watching all around the world it be all sorts of different times of year uh thank you for
Joining us because this is the conclusion of the women’s with Grand Prix in its second edition and what a series it’s been what a way to finish off only six Riders can score points at the end here to add to their team scall scall tally and then we’re left on
Countback trying to work out who who has won this series because there were four who could have done it absolutely bringing it tonight exagon W hoola showing themselves and uh well now we’ve got a team who are quite a long way down castelli and selan colombi really all about the individual performance here
She’ll had a massive points tally to her team of course might see them moving up into the top 10 after tonight maybe but this is an individual moment of Brilliance mat isn’t it it is but it’s very interesting it’s a wonderful ride it looks like she is going to hold on
She’s got a lead of 12 seconds so it’s coming down ever so slightly with 1900 M to go looks like there’s actually a little bit of organization as the Riders behind Gua fur simen and Sodom start to work a little bit but the Gap has gone out again now but interestingly
Coalition Alpha leading with nine aonian with eight exagon with eight they don’t have anybody in the mix in this front group they’ve used all their Riders up and that’s the risk you take if you use your Riders up earlier on to score points as we know that’s the rules they
Won’t be in the mix at the finale so there’ll be a few teams here that are going to move up but can anybody break the lead of a coalition Alpha I’m not too sure it could actually be done right now but this is a fantastic solo ride at
The moment by colombi 17 seconds is the lead 1300 meters to go jez yeah all four of the four Riders on your screen will score as will Colombia if she stays out where she is and one Rider from behind 654321 on the finish line and then uh I can tell you at home
Now we’ll have a little bit of a wait for other Riders to finish as well and then for us to work out all the the points tabl but so much to go over on what has been an absolutely frantic race again inside the final kilometer for our
Leader and sing colomi is going to hang on by the looks of it she has 20 seconds of lead over Katherine fura riding for the 2024 team she’s rallied herself for a team who’ve started with only three riders today a great performance by her individually even though it won’t
Necessarily help her team too much today on a day when they can only score so many points colomi revelation of the series individual Brilliance and I wonder whether there might be some of the teams dare I say it guys uh higher up who might be um dropping her a
Message or two in between this and next years Swift gr Prix hot property indeed indeed the old contract Esports rabile will go to overdrive after this edition of the zft Grand Prix that is for sure but here she is she swings left into the finishing straight and with a gap of 20
Seconds jez she can really Sav this moment what a finale to the season utterly dominant Selen colum we take our hats off to you you have been the individual breakthrough women of the series she takes the final points our first Rider across the line in this the
Finale of the zift gr Prix and Selen columi can Freewheel at long last she can Freewheel there are the other Riders who are in that group as well I wondered at the beginning of the day where it be mikoda Strom who’s going to get the the final points in the end she’ll get
Second place by the looks of it for mvar M Star second across the line four more points to be taken and look at them come bang bang bang bang one more place to be taken if my counting is is correct I think and at the moment that’s sidick
Who’s back there for Coalition Alpha wouldn’t you know it the first Coalition Alpha Rider to be in the finale here well I tell you what Matt this is going to take some working out isn’t it they’ve scored pretty well so far they’ve not been utterly dominant tonight but still there this is
Important yeah so sidick takes the final Point available One Singular point to add to the tally of nine so just using very basic maths Coalition Alpha will should have 10 points at the end of the night that should see them win this round but again well there’s a little
Bit more working out in confirmation but yeah an absolutely fascinating race we’ve had here at Harriet always so hard a dominant performance by Kobi another standout performance as well from Nathan’s wife Gabby Guero there have for third place on the day as the rest of our Riders uh stream home here and drop
Down towards Betty’s t- room oh fantastic and it’s actually nice despite the fact that I’m saying none of these R is finishing now count uh they’ve counted in that they’ve been in that pack and been involved in the whole unfolding of their team’s game plan too definitely uh should we bring Nathan
Back in Nathan for a start how utterly exhausted is Gabby there alongside you I’m sure you can you can look at her and she must be uh delighted with that she’s had a good round hasn’t she tonight yeah I think so uh she uh definitely had a great race out there
And uh you know she was right in it there just couldn’t quite uh make the junct she she did a lot of sacrifices specifically to be with Columbia I think and I think uh a little bit of a opportunity missed in her mind but third place is really good uh
Definitely solid solid ride her and M it was kind of uh you know watching it it was a decision moment and no one followed fur and that caused a situation where like somebody had to and uh and so Gabby ended up being the one that had to
Otherwise Katherine was gone I think if uh if there wasn’t something closed down and sometimes that’s how it plays you play that third wheel as we should and it’s nice to see everyone sprinting out hard their places after a fantastic winter of racing where some teams have chosen to swap riders in
And out tactically as we go uh we’ve heard from some of the teams haven’t we guys that um there’s been injury sorry illness and injury striking some Riders down as well uh even Nathan himself has been uh caught with a uh bit of illness across the way in his household as well
I think Gabby had it too covid if I’m not mistaken well a couple of weeks ago and so it’s a bit like any season I guess Matt isn’t it where you have to cope with all the ups and downs of things along the way and because we’re
Doing it pretty much weekly that affects the Riders here too definitely already got a season spread over several months remember we started uh way back was it was it November we started isn’t it we’ve had we had a little bit of a break uh over the festive period and here we
Are uh fresh into the new year uh there’s always bound to be riders that um whose form ES and flows and that’s another fact to to say take into consideration as well and obviously illness and injury always plays A Part unfortunately the deeper you get into the season the stronger the likelihood
That at least one or two of your Riders will fall by the r the Wayside unfortunately um but um thankfully it hasn’t affected things too adversely sa for the team of 2024 tonight who incredibly um scored three points so a great ride limited resource and a good
Ride by them on the night um but yeah we we actually only saw five teams not score points uh tonight beast mode be 13 M and primot and rocker corba didn’t actually score the other teams managed to get at least one points on the board who would you like to have been managing
Tonight Matt if you were sitting there rubbing your hands going I’m happy with that who would it be I I quite like to manage exagon because they the exagon team because I just like the way they they’ve ridden uh and also I mean when they look back
Every team as as Nathan will know um they will look back over what they’ve done right what they’ve done not necess what they’ve done done wrong but there there’s so many learnings that to to to get out of the of the zift Grand Prix especially given all the different
Formats that we’ve got to get used to it’s very diff difficult to settle into any sort of Rhythm because every week it chops and changes so much learning and a team that have come um from nowhere uh and have ridden exceptionally well are exagon um and they’ll be forced to be
Reckon with because they’ve really stepped up and and are beating some of the best riders in the world on E boards fresh out the blocks so they’re the team that I’d like to to have a go at try to manage I think I don’t know whether they
Do a very good job I think Nathan be far better position than me but it would be an interesting proposition we are fairly close to being able to bring you the on the night on the day on the morning on the afternoon wherever you are around the world points
Scores for this seventh and final round of the zwift gr Prix and then of course we’ll be able to bring you the overall as well I’m hoping also tonight for both the women and the men’s race to be able to grab a word with one of the Riders as
Well we’ve got appointed riders in each of the teams and we should be able to link up by video and ask them some questions about their experience of this final round on the Royal pump room eight as well lovely world to be in I’ve enjoyed the mix by the way Matt
Definitely of the IRL worlds and then the watopia worlds as well as I’ve been on a real journey this winter although I’ve raced a little tiny bit on zift okay excuses the Clank next one next B name arate pump room eight up and downs in k over theft galvanized themselves uh and uh
They’ve impressed they they’ve raced aggressively they’ve raced with strength and they they’ve also raced with real tactical na as well so they are strong team and they a team can think and I still think they’ve got a long way to go and that certainly does or go well for
The next series of the zift Grand Prix and of course for the zift games coming up is very very exciting indeed so they’ll be certainly happy with that final step on the podium well let’s look at who else has moved up because Mau star have moved up from 9th to sixth big jump
Today uh for the final standings that’s very encouraging uh Virginia’s Blue Ridge 2024 as we thought they might have moved down from six to seventh saris nopin sitting still in eigh here’s the rundown of the other eight teams as well team Swedish zwifters uh also losing a couple of places moving down from
Seventh to 9th um castelli though have moved up considerably three places from 13th to 10th by a big final performance on the last day next Esports also dropping one place to 11th from 10th uh prore prore scoring points in the final round look at that that’s what we wanted
Scoring points in the final round I wanted it to happen and they’ve done it they still sit at the bottom though but they’ve rallied towards the end as well Rocka Cora Collective hold their place in 15th uh be 13 still in 14th Place which is almost messing with my
Mathematical brain beast mode have dropped a couple of places today despite being pretty evident and getting involved in that race as well AA Synergy holding 12th Place and that’s our 16 teams what what a season what a season it’s been what a great sort of stepping stone as well uh Matt towards those
Swift games that we have coming up in March perfect stepping stone perfect learning opportunity for some of these Young Riders too yep certainly lots to take away again it’s been it’s been a fantastic season lot lots of learnings but I think we’re going to see some maybe different tactics applied over the
For the next with games that’s for sure right let’s get thinking about the men’s race because there is just under five minutes until it starts and in the men’s race we have seven Riders H seven teams I should say In Contention leading the series overall Abus Synergy in the
Blue tops the Belgian team with the black shorts they have won three of the rounds so far AA Synergy they sit on 143 points can they hang on like we saw Coalition Alpha do let’s see because behind them next Esports are very much the coming team they won round six and
They’ll be trying to do exactly the same again tonight uh very strong in the points chasing format and next Esports powered by en shord sit only five points behind AA Synergy so close between those two in third Wahu LOL looking to hopefully have a better night than their
Women did that’s for sure they sit in third place on the podium having won round four and they are 19 points behind next Esports Coalition Alpha are in fourth boy I suspect by the performance they’ve just seen of their winning women as well they sit six points behind waho
La next up of the seven teams who could mathematically challenge for the win tonight Toyota Elite e cycling on 110 points only three points behind Coalition Alpha hexagon the French team in orange and black sitting sixth mathematically capable of winning tonight but 14 points behind Toyota
Elite e cycling and the final team to be in contention mathematically for the win is Mau star Mau star sit on 74 points but 22 whole points behind exagon right let’s have a look at who these teams are actually bringing to the race tonight though in terms of their individual
Riders through the pr race indeed race Premo race for that boarders currently in 16th Place three Riders from Ireland in that Squad Miller morisy and Ryan dpack Elite looking to move up from 15th there team castelli currently in 14th Place with their four Italian Riders and Peter vul and restart currently in 13th
Place um they’ll certainly be looking with those double points offer to move up tonight too next up the French team of furra pones will they get to drink from their furra uh tonight they do have one Belgian Rider in there Alexis larck let’s hope he is the rock for them come
That final Sprint saris are in 11th All American teams team Swedish in 10th missing a rider though will we come back to revisit what that’s done for them on the night let’s see BL 13 in ninth place as well looking to see if they can move
Away from that number 10 as well get deeper into that top eight so moving on to the top eight they’re beast mode powered by Rose they’ve been riding solidly as they always do Kristoff TM uh quite often the RO that galvanizes that particular team mobistar as jez was saying can move up
They could potentially win this but it’s going to have to be a good one Harvey gladnes Jimmy kers there exagon again across on the men’s another breakout team of course Mikel planto has been riding well of late Toyota Elite currently sat in fifth what to have for
Brad GES and in particular on a course like this a Martin Martins could be their key Riders one and a half minutes to go till the start just under Coalition Alpha in fourth place all of these teams could mathematically win on the night if they get things right fourth place for
Coalition Alpha third place and up onto that Podium for Wahu lall LED once again by how Davies who we’ve had as an expert haven’t we on the coverage of the zift gor PRI already this winter and he has the world champion of course bejor andreason ready to do his thing will we
See him go for one of his long breakaways let’s see next up next Esports who sit I’ll remind you again just Five Points behind AA Synergy next Esports AA Synergy absolutely heads locked together and ready to go at it tonight ABA Synergy are leading but only
Just and an all Belgian team in that Belgian kit of Synergy 40 seconds to go we are locked and loaded for an incredible finale in the points Hunter the women’s race was absolutely brilliant and the men’s race I know is going to be just as good Matt this is
Going to be cracking isn’t it it certainly is especially with that the first intermediate Sprint at only 2.6 K ago we saw essentially several attacks just because we got so many points on offer early on I’m expecting similar in the men’s of course the race blew apart we we see something similar
One thing’s for sure it’s delicately balanced at the top this is going to be a lot of fun to watch maybe not so much fun to ride oh yes 2.6 km to go to that first Sprint point where oh yeah where the meon I’m just thinking about you here and uh
And how you would be playing it um you were talking about the the the benefit of being a mountain biker having a Snappy start like that getting off the grid nice and early I’d have thought a nice evening out in a race like this would be get the first two points and
Get the heck out of there well yeah it is kind of like a hle shot in mountain biking isn’t it it’s a lot like a whole shot if you’re going to try and go for it the only thing is you know whether or not you want to risk a
Whole lot of energy up front here like what what we saw in the women’s race is that these initial little bumps they do have a lot of rolling speed you are going to get a pack that’s trying to chase back and there’s kind of this natural speed when the pack is like oh
Well it’s kind of getting away from us so we better bring this back and that kind of like ends up with this mushrooming effect that can kind of roll through a little bit but um you know I think uh you’re going to see a lot of counters coming over the top over the
Top over the top here in the next couple of kilometers yep absolutely almost impossible to say who’s leading at the moment cuz we’ve got a swirling rolling front end what I can tell you is we’ve got about uh 2K before we get the first points decided if you didn’t join us for
The women’s race just to explain and remind you again if you’re watching the men’s race here there are just two and one points so only the first two Riders through the first Sprint point will score and this being the points Hunter format if anyone scores no matter what
They score they’re immediately out of the race so they can’t score anymore after that point the phasing the the order in which your Riders score things absolutely critical as well we’re racing in harut on the pump room 8 course the figure of eight course which eventually
On the second lap goes back on itself in the opposite direction and this is a nice long downhill rolling out of haraga itself yeah it’s a pretty quick start they do a little Loop Round before heading up that long drag that we’re a little bit more familiar with but some
Moves have gone Bill 13 getting involved very early end here with morel trying to move off the front another big punch won’t be long before we actually move through that Sprint points as we look at the squad uh that we’ve come to know Oho well Coalition Alpha Lono vsan Anie yobs
Um Anders bangston there well one Rider should I say but Lon Vian so instantly recognizable and looking very good there so much pressure uh on these Riders isn’t there and I know there’ll be so many people watching who who race on Swift themselves anyway and and in a way
Enjoy the kind of gamified nature of it they enjoy their hard effort and their training they’re doing it for Fitness they’re doing it to challenge themselves and level up and move up through the levels but to these Riders these are Elite professional Esports Racers it means everything to them doesn’t it it’s
Absolutely critical not to let your team down yeah C quite a different feel indeed it looks like we’ve got a in the French national champions coming through there it looks like he’s going to might take this is a very very close Sprint indeed AO and bond of exagon so exagon
Two well a Frenchman uh looking like they’re going to take this one this is going to be a blanket finisher very tight to call that one J I think exagon may have just got that as well on the line but we’ll wait to have that confirmed for us we’ll be bringing up
That graphic fairly soon where we see things uh Harvard glenz I think who’s taken it by the looks of it uh in the orange um let me just check that for myself um yeah looks like gladnes has indeed taken it from Harris of bl13 both of those Riders will of course now leave
The race a very short race indeed um only half the distance of of course an individual Pursuit but uh super super quick but already a couple of teams with points on the board yes we’ll confirm that for you on the little points table bottom left of
The screen ently pin van demon right at the front and are just merging of the uh the wheels of the Riders come back together again that big big pack now let’s remind us our El um once now that gliders and Harris have scored those first two and one points uh we now have
About 10 km until the next king of the mountains point so in in theory things could now calm down H my suspicion is they won’t and not least because you might have a few Riders I’m just looking we could do with looking at the whole group as a whole I just wonder whether
We might have lost some off the bat that might be chasing to get back in looking at the the wattages it’s it is calming down a bit but we’re on downhill aren’t we Matt yeah we’re just dropping through we just gone past uh the uh the Royal
Pump room on the on the left hand side and now we’re just going up the finishing straight this of course was the actual finishing straight this is the right direction for the World Championships past to uh the zwift house at the bottom corner there past to
Scotty as he Fades into the distance but now the shape here suggests that they really are pressing on at the front team Swedish zwifters leading there with n in and a few rers definitely were tailed off there J and they need to get on here
Cuz it’s a very very hard to chase once you get on that drag and once you get out of the of the cone basically of that draft cone it’s so hard to get back on but saying that um we never know it might this race might not necessarily
Pan out like the women’s does I mean there’s a lot that you can be informed of um from One race to another but quite often the tactics can be quite different um but already we’ve seen a couple of attackers the pace eased and immediately the pace is eased we’ve got two roders
Going clear wul l and B 13 PowerAll level Val with two Riders just off the front here and we’ve lost two Riders so far it’s har gliders the Norwegian rider for mistar taking the two points at the beginning so mistar lead on the point scores so far it was Josh Harris the
Australian for bl13 scoring a point for bl13 those two Riders are now out of the race I wonder if this might be a night where we see M Star really move up as well doing well so far they sit in seventh place as as we mentioned at the
Beginning of the day one of those seven teams that mathematically could win the zft gor Prix overall tonight well they’ve started brilliantly Mobby star can they keep scoring that’s the question they’ve picked up haven’t they that uh power up there as well haven’t they going through that line there
They’ve all picked up a uh lightweight power up I know we call it the feather power I think the official name is the lightweight power up and um far be it for me to correct your your uh I think your zift knowledge Matt because my knowledge is useless and has a I’ve got
On a piece of paper in front of me but the rule book says 10% reduction in weight H sorry reduction in weight of 10% for 30 seconds yeah I said 15 or 30 it it’s fluctuated so uh yeah that was uh I I hedged it 15 and 30 I said so but
There we go no it’s it’s it’s a Time timing timing absolutely crucial now but yeah it used to be a set weight a few years ago but they changed it rft changed it to 10% to make it a little bit more fairer for everybody yeah so team Swedish swifter on the attack uh
S and noren both having a go as well uh we remind ourselves team Swedish swifters only have four Riders they’re missing one tonight as well whether that will be a problem I don’t know bear in mind as we know that uh around 60 or so of the Riders won’t score anything
Tonight anyway because they can’t come to finish there are only that number of people that can actually score um what is it 20 riders in total can actually score any points out of the full 80 that are potential across these 16 teams so it’s it it is a cruel night out a cruel
Day of racing isn’t it when you you can put that effort in and get nothing for it it is indeed well we’ve just seen one R go clip that’s Severa of team castelli it’s got a 3 second lead as we look at Brian Duffy Jr well that is a very
Beautiful national champs Jersey isn’t it the Stars and Stripes of the Esports champion of the United States that looks very cool indeed um just to double check just to check in on the point scored of course with that win by Glades that mobistar are currently leading they have
Two points and a b 13 power level have one point but as you were just saying before next time through the next Sprint up the road which is about 5k away now there’s a few more points off for three2 and one so mobar e team with an early
Lead yes I’m also loving Duffy’s uh USA Champs Jersey very smart these National Champion jerseys aren’t they uh by the way worth just mentioning that if there is a tie in points tonight uh then the tiebreaker is the earliest scoring Rider the earliest scoring Rider on the night
As well in the race too so we might have to come back to that we’ll see um so the early points are going to be particularly impactful world champion on the strikeout bjon andreason going for it but he’s not getting it all his own way either that looks like uh the colors
Of dpack elite going after him yeah it’s a good move dpack just latching on to the back there trying to get across the Gap here to sea he’s still leading but it’s Andreas I think it’s e it’s Morgan of Wales actually the rider from dpack Elite but he’s
Certainly drawing the uh a bit of a chase behind because the pack the pelaton have latched onto that little Counterattack and that’s eaten very quickly into the lead of The Italian who still currently clear just gone down that drag you get a little bit of momentum which you can really carry up
The top of this drag here 3% then it flattens out again as you can see those stone walls on the left hand side but it does look as if sea is starting to fade a bit that pelaton moving rapidly up this drag Nathan what can you tell us about
Nicolo sea he looks good but he’s seemingly struck out at just the wrong moment there that’s going to take a bit of surviving from because he a big effort didn’t he yeah it’s a big effort and you know this is the same exact thing that we saw
From hug is that can you hold on to a gap over that long drag it’s very tempting isn’t it to use a long drag like that to see how much time that you can get away from a large pack but when that pack comes down that other side of
That climb and starts rolling with that speed it just be becomes very very difficult to stay away uh if you did a comparison in kilometers per hour they were probably traveling 5 kilm per hour faster over the little bump at the bottom of the Descent actually and that’s what brought that time back
Pretty quickly so definitely a rider who likes to break away uh you know I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s able to hang out toward the later half of the race as well uh another attempt after letting the legs maybe we’ll see we’ll see how much he
Can rest up I mean the km’s coming we’ll see how hard they go and how negative the racing is if three four get away they might calm down over the top of the km but it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out we’ve got thank you Nathan we’ve got
An attack here from Beno koues the food Pon Coalition Rider but he’s got company two let’s remind ourselves at this next king of mountains point there are three2 and one uh points available we’ve only have one point Sprint point so far one by mistar there’s three Riders here
Clear so they would Hoover up the points neat and tidy if they could McCarthy and uh Panza another Italian what a mix of different nations represented in that top 10 currently out on the road it was who started this one off there he is right in the middle yeah
Castelli have been very aggressive so far aggressive of course in the women’s race winning the individual uh KN first across the line of course there so no doubt inspired by the performance of uh of their fellow teammate across on the women’s but yeah he’ve been joined by
Kouz they’ve got five seconds so these four Riders we’ve got Mia of wulo McCarthy of re starts and then we’ve got castelli penit and koues kouz should I say of the food of ponches and they’ve opened up a nice little lead here 5.7 uh seconds is the gap as they plunge down
The other side an opportunity on this particular section as it gets pretty steep there you can just see top right there’s the gradient minus 14% remember they’ve got to come up this uh in about eight well about 14 km time and that is an absolute brute they carry a lot of
Pace here and uh this little group if they stick tight together they’ll get the benefit that added bit of momentum that um was being discussed at length a little bit bit earlier on of course by Nathan um notice a few of you out who are watching thanks very much indeed for
Tuning in on YouTube to the final round of the zift Grand Prix I can see a lot of you have got those zift companion apps I can’t believe it I haven’t mentioned it just yet so do fire up those companion apps get involved and give your favorite Riders a ride on it
Really does make a difference but yeah they’ve got this long drag they swing right flat section then they plummet down and then they hit the bottom of the next dragon I think the guys should move up that climb probably about 150 2 minutes it’s um it’s a pretty quick
Climb um but very steep at the bottom flattens out and then kicks up again to the line yes slight problem with this there’s four Riders clear but only three of them can score points if they to survive to the line and and having said all of that there’s still quite a way to
Go as well it will come with 14.3 kilm to go so 4K is time from now and we know how steep that Hill is and how much speed you get into the bottom where they cross the little stream Brook they go over before they start that climb as
Well they get quite a fast run into it and they are getting company here we go coming back together yeah the peleton behind Nathan was explaining the pack Dynamics um if there’s only a c a few seconds lead they had three or 4 seconds the pack carries so much momentum uh
They’ve actually used almost that free speed to shut the Gap pretty quickly to the Riders out in front and in fact they have been absorbed but look who’s moving up there we’ve got lonel Vasan alvo is up in the mix as well as we get towards
The top of this climb uh Scotty on the left hand side surveying this scene and it won’t be long before they start plummeting down the other side here 16.6 K to go and they have about 3ks now 2 and a half 3ks before the next uh King
Of the mountains and that one well that starts the next phase of the race really jez doesn’t it because all of the climbs then are packed between 13.2k and 18.7k so three opportunities to score points in just 5Ks yeah there’s only about 2 or 3K between each of those points and then we
Have a bit of a longer gap we have just over 8 km between the final K of the M King of the mountains point and the Finish itself don’t forget the Finish is where the maximum the highest number of points are 654 3 2 and one and look at
Everything bunching up right now as well Nathan can I just ask you a question about and this is me extending my understanding of the the gamification of Swift as well how it works and how that it interacts with what the rider is actually doing I RL wherever they are
Around the world on their turbo trainer or their uh their zwift Hub um I’ve got a couple of questions for you as we watch them go into this fast descent how do you instigate the super tuck we’ve mentioned it a couple of times is it
Just a case of uh coasting on the pedals or you’ve got to be up to speed already for it to happen so that’s a great question it’s actually changed uh since pack Dynamics uh 4.0 launched last summer uh it used to be that you would super tuck no
Matter where you were in the pack at 57 km/ hour or more that 57 km/ hour has stayed the same so if you hit 57 km/ hour or more on a downhill and you go to zero Watts then you do start using a super tuck but now with the new pack
Dynamics only the rider on the front actually goes to uh into a super tuck or only a rider who’s not drafting on anyone toward the front of a pack at the front of the pack will actually do a super tuck so then you don’t get this continual Snowball Effect
Of free speed just over the top over the top over the top and the pack kind of gets out of control so that was another uh game update that actually made it a little bit easier for breakaways to succeed thank you Nathan we are just about to go around the corner and take
In our first koom and this is where there will be three two and one points massive pack of riders but only three of them can score don’t forget they’ll score and they’re out of the race as well wow this is so close why is it bunched up so much like this this is
Going to be a crazy Sprint Matt isn’t it it certainly just look at the power they’ve all got it’s with holding around four between four and six Watts a kilo this is where the road kicks up there’s a little opportunity to recover and then you’ve got this 30 second power up now
Which has been deployed the finishing line for the Sprint comes only into sight just now you can just see the or the orange just there 6% drag so the Riders just leaving it a little bit late but we started to see a few gok perin at Power brandland there Jones from
Coalition Alpha also in the mix only three of them can score kelp power right at the front kelp power looking like he’s got this the others may as well drop off because don’t forget the first three who score here are out anyway you don’t want to waste your energy before
You and actually get nothing for it power perin Vella looking like they’re the first ones across the line and therefore scoring the points we’ll wait to confirm that for you but Kel power getting the three perin second for Coalition Alpha and valella there for our leading team AB C energ getting just
The one point but he’s scored for his team crucially all three of them out of the race and we roll on yeah that’s an impressive spren yeah I mean once we get these points uh uh T tted up it just uh it will tell us the points sorry
Obviously tell us the point score of course it will but it will give an indication of the dominant team mob style well they have ridden up very well so far they are currently the lead by quite a margin considering we’ve only had two sprints so far they’ve got five
Next Esports with two and AA sini uh as series leader the with Grand Prix leaders scoring a very valuable singular point and bl 13 Powerball level B after that first point that they scored earlier on they in fourth with one. two so uh good uh good opportunity to get
Some points on the board early doors from AA syy but of course they have now lost that Rider no room to relax though because there’s about a kilometer to the next Sprint having gone over the K they’re back into haraga itself in the city and we’re going back through the
Sprint Point as well which comes with almost exactly 12K to go 12K to go 12K left of the race 1 kilm to that point now though so the actual run into it has started massive pack contending Four 3 2 and one points four Riders to score four eliminated that’s a small leading group
As well isn’t it Matt I it looks like we’ve only got about 25 or 30 Riders left they went so hard up that that final climb there was a they went hard at the bottom then it eased a bit another power up been saved by Martin
Martin say he already had a win on the board mentioned Martin Martins at the top but he’s gone very long but he is the sort of Rider that can hold and sustain this power of course assisted by the 302 power up here the featherweight power up the lightweight power up which
Takes 10% off his weight although it’s a little bit flatter here just look at the speed that he’s managing to carry 10 watts a kilo he’s been closely followed up by the Belgian Lionel Vasan around this corner and it will come into VI very quickly I just wonder whether the
Voan has timed this absolutely perfectly they got about 150 M to go around this left hander and into it voan look at that dropping his feather power up just in time and he’s got a slingshot around Martin Martins and I think voan has played this perfectly looking for the
Riders who are coming behind voan leading for Coalition Alpha across the line he scores Four Points three by the looks of it for Martin no Martin Martins may have taken two there I think by the looks of it an overlap from Turk Tu now coming through to the front the first
Four Riders across the line there all scoring and there they are listed for us vyaan perfect timing with a use of that feather light lightweight power up T in second gets three points Martin Martins just the two after his hard effort there and Panza scoring the one point at the
Yorkshire Sprint well this is fascinating so we saw that move around in the final didn’t we um of the the women’s Podium it’s delicately poised here next Esports are in the lead at the mobar lead with five next Esports on the same point exactly with with five then
We have Coalition Al with four Toyota with two in AA Synergy now in fifth equal on points with be 13 Powerball level B and team castelli and a couple more Sprints to go this is absolutely fascinating and um another couple of attacks off the front of it’s certainly
Not vetan he’ll be out of the race but it’s uh a pat of AA Synergy now trying to score some more points for his team remember not too long at all before the next one Nathan what have you spotted I know you’ve got your Eagle Eye on the
Screen as it’s happening what’s going on in there well there’s a a lot of pressure on Brian Duffy Jr’s shoulders right now because he is the only next Rider that I can see in and amongst that League group at this point they’ve gone early for a lot of points abis with only
One point right so right now they’re the two top teams for that top spot right now only separated by a few points in the series overall but Duffy is the only one left from next that I see and he’s got to score big points even so you’ve
Got three abis Riders maybe four I’m still trying to to decipher I I think it’s three that got a lot of opportunity Duffy has got to trust that this pack is going to take some points away from them and and and try and score so other teams
That might not even be involved in the series are overall they’re a little bit of a wrench for abis now too I know there’s a couple next Riders trying to get back to this pack but can they even score if they do so so there’s a lot
Going on out on field right now with next versus abis oh my goodness May next was so close to AA Synergy we always knew it was going to be a real battle between those two with just Five Points between them at the start of the day I
Know we like to build things up but we don’t need to with that there are only five points separating them double points on the tonight as well for the overall this is going to be quite some finale two more Sprints to go we’ve got one at the king of the mountains climb
Which we know is a real tough one and then the big finale so there are uh at the Kingdom Mountain they’re going to be 5 43 2 and one and at the Finish there’s six 543 21 Yep this is f lot of riders that won’t score too sorry Matt there is
No there is indeed we’re just coming on to the bottom of the climb the actual climb the formal time section of this climb just starts in a few moments time but look at this little kicker here there’s the time section on the left hand side denoted by that red flashing
Post it went up to 13% it’s a little it’s really horrible that particular section then 5% then it’s just a gentle drag all the way to the line um it is a difficult one to get right but as Nathan was quite rightly saying I can’t see any
More um next Esports in this front group but they have managed to count three Riders from AA synergy paradigms van elst is there and pirot is there all three belgians in that group and as he said that does put a lot of pressure on the man in the stars and stripes on the
Right hand side what does he do does he go for this one or does he hold on to the the finale he’s in a very difficult situation but right now from a numbers perspective it is Aus who in the driving seat yes absolutely next Esports have
Nikki hug who’s right at the front as well has been buzzing around the front there the um Swiss Rider and once again it bubbles up and just packs up tight that pack one Rider starting to try and go clear though and looks like the colors of the Swedish zwifters if I’m
Not mistaken using the Featherlite power up on this gentle rise as well yep it is a noren going clear 10 watts a kilo but he’s been closely followed by Kaminsky of Coalition Alpha Vasan out of the race scoring well on the previous one but this R is starting
To move clear he’s got a half a second lead but it’s been passed very quickly by the pole Kaminsky who shoots by him and also spins him round in a Vortex just look at the power of the poll this rid he still got a fair W to go to the
Top of this climb he just swings right and then the Finish Line will be in s he’s gone early but I tell you what he’s looking very good he’s extremely close to that KO end point because remember we’re coming in Reverse this time this
Is the easier way up and here it is he’s made it count kinsky the pole has attacked straight through there uh so he gets five 4 3 2 two and there’s one point being taken just off the left back there as well Kaminsky getting the Five Points norin the four for Swedish
Swifters H sorry that’s just being corrected I think four went to pirot of uh ABA Synergy my Graphics are just disappearing norin in third hug the Swiss Rider in SEC well sorry with two points not one third yes two points and Mikel plantu we’ve seen him moving up at
The last K in the other direction he didn’t score he gets just the one here those Riders are now out of the race we won’t mention their names again for a while and we’re left with just the finale 88.3k to go to bring us back to
The Finish Line where they will be 65 43 21 Nathan looking at that um we’ve lost some big names in that penultimate Sprint haven’t we they’re out of the race now uh looking at someone like plant I think he looked at try to score maximum points of the last one didn’t do
It and has bagged himself one there at least he’s on the score though isn’t he yeah it’s good for hexagon uh it’s not going to probably do it for them though when it comes to the overall in the series now at this point I think the
Conversation you know I I did miss Nikki hug he was in there he was able to score he was obviously marking uh perau I believe it was that was able to score there at the end for uh abis now the reality is though there’s still plenty
Of abis left in here and we’re back in that same situation where there’s a lot on Brian Duffy Jr’s shoulders we did just see pin bandan from M star and Neil FR go and now it’s about marking for a win right like you’re sitting here thinking about ABA Synergy and what’s
Happening with them versus next and that’s what that’s kind of what’s going on in their heads while there’s other Riders who are just out for the win there’s points that they can just take away from you if you don’t cover their moves but at the same time are you
Dragging those other riders for the series overall with you lot of Chess going on here with all the Riders what do we cover and what will stay away and what will just be brought back this is a leading group of just 11 Riders you can
See them on the left the right hand side of the screen down to 11th Place The Gap back to 12th Place and vort riding for waho laal is eight eight seconds back from the lead so there are 11 Riders now in the lead and six points to be scored
This is now a much more interesting tactical situation isn’t it and uh even amongst that they’re splitting up as well and not all getting the benefit of the full draft by riding off the wheels yeah this is absolutely Fant it is it is fascinating a great win there
By Kaminsky earlier on to add some points to the total of Coalition Alpha but yeah this is a small group remember we’ve got this horrible no more points on offer until we get to the finish line now but we saw on this particular section the women’s race absolutely
Explode up that brutally hard climb there’s Brian Duffy Jr in the mix there in the stars and stripes can he do something special tonight um van elst is there for the leading team um uh Abus Synergy as well and I think we’ve got 11 riders in at that front group who are
Enjoying a lead of 13 seconds over the Chasers what a list of names as well um Nathan looking at those 11 let’s see if you can get this right who’s going to be first across the line actually sprinted with Duffy I’ve I’ve sprinted with Duffy on the specific
Course he knows this course really really well um and and he knows when to go I I it’s it’s hard to go by uh Duffy junor with the kind of form that he’s been on the dominating performance so I I think Duffy Jr is going to be my pick
You know coming from the USA too with the national champions kit how could I go buy him right so now the thing is with three abis Synergy in there he they just got across their fingers that some of the other teams are going to take away those points with the
Points being so incredibly close I think there’s a separation on the day of two points right now lovely thank you so Nathan is going for Duffy junr Matt come on give me a pick who’s going to get the six points out of this leading group of
11 it’s a tough one who looks good to it really is I think Andreas in the we’ve got two we’ve got two very spectacular jerseys to the most gorgeous looking jerseys in the world the stars and stripes and the rainbow bands um and it’d be great to see wouldn’t it I again
From a fans perspective from a purist perspective the the the world champion winning the final round but he’s up against it and that climb is coming very shortly as xan great ride by the man from through DP punchers just moving through to the front backing off a little bit here they’ve all really
Backed off the power because if you go into this particular climb even at five or six Watts a kilo at the bottom you’re Tire because just to get up the gradient you have to be punching about seven or eight Watts a kilo so everybody backing off but just watch those numbers turn
Red on this climb at about two or 300 M time check the team points on the left there too let’s keep that graphic up leading on the night in this race so far n points for Coalition Alpha ahead of next Esports with seven next Esports remember we’re in second place on the
Day ABA Synergy with the leading team going into this final round they sit in third place currently Mau Star had a really good ride so far in fourth having started the day in seventh of course these are just the points for this round but let’s not forget double points score
For this final round so it’s twice as important as usual look at the grading here 14% that’s some powerups being dropped by Brian Duffy Junior and just moving up on the right hand side and there’s a big attack from paradigms just coming through into the center this is the bit
That we would talking about this is that horrible section of Road um the top there I always use that Mark of that gate on the left hand side is where the gradient starts to ease but what it doesn’t do is completely level off it just drops below double digits so Riders
Have already maxed out Riders already in the red here but this just keeps on going it’s still at 8% then 7% and it’s horrible you think the road actually drops away but actually continues to rise this I can tell you what the Riders here are going to be going through
Absolute hell and there’s only eight Riders left at the front and they’re dripping off the back of that I was watching van EO there van EO of the uh wul lall is also getting dropped we are basically reducing down this this leading group we’re reducing it down to
A very very fine Source because we now only have one 2 3 4 5 six six Riders left six to score one more coming back in this is going to be a brutal finale it certainly is and talking about Andreas winning this race what I don’t
Think he has is the is the this type of Sprint that the likes of Brian Duffy have you know when you look at the way they actually won the World Championships it was a brilliant play but he went very long he doesn’t have the same sort of punch but what he has
Got is the opportunity to go long and after this left-hander as we know it drops down and there’s a nasty little kicker that takes us up to about 1900 met to go and I think anybody who doesn’t trust their Sprint they have to go there if they want to try and take
Maximum points but at the moment if it stays together as a group I would tip the American champion yes there’s quite a long run in down to the Finish big attack here from freet the American Neil freet of restart looking to capitalize maybe on his team’s lower position in the overall
Classification going into this and see whether no one chases he could be uh timing this perfectly it’s a good move by someone who might not be seen as so much of a threat guys indeed but he’s got one and half seconds lead another Rider to to think about with a very
Strong finishing Sprint is PIM van demon is seventh he’s one of the eight or eight Riders left in this group uh Nathan let’s bring you back in three and a half KS to go this race is hanging in the balance here who’s your favorite this is all over the place I
Mean Ed Morgan just dragged back another abis Synergy Rider I saw van El was just going covering moves from Boran Anderson with Van Al being on image Synergy as well literally the series overall is coming down to this last Sprint right now and Duffy has been sitting and just
Watching and watching and watching Neil I think wants a little bit of payback cuz they were one two in the national championship there’s so many stories going on right now in the background but it’s still all right in front of us for the win fantastic it is coming back together
Again though the Welshman Morgan just hanging on just under six watts per kilo we know that it’s quite a long very gradual downhill back in towards the Finish Line in the middle of our course here but bjon andreon going long Matt you mentioned earlier he won those Esports World Championships by going
Long he went crazy long of course he was out there for Miles by himself and in the end it was a bit of a surprise uh no such surprise today though he’s in that stripy Jersey and he’s riding clear look at this steady Watts 4.3 watts per kilo
At the moment as they’re going downhill he’s coasting a little bit yeah he’s got a he’s got a kick now this this is where this is where with 2.5k to go he’s going to go in he’s got to go into the red look at this his power’s gone up now to
8.4 Watts a kilo 178 beats a minute Brian Duffy Jr knows he’s a dangerous Rider and has actually dragged that group back this is going to be hard for andreason it’s a reverse rolls now andreason has now got to try and stay in that group not lose any positions but it
Looks as if a couple of the roders have just started to back off ever so slightly 2.3 Cas to go and this continues to drag look at the right hand side it’s actually 9% here it’s deceptively steep but there are some very quick sprinters and as Nathan quite
Rightly put it out the uh mentioned the the overall rests within this group the overall we decided within this group this the whole series is hanging now in the balance it really is we’ve got three Riders from AA Synergy in there but remember they only have five points in
Coalition Al have nine this is absolutely fascinating so the American champion has got it all to do now he really has two kilometers to go 10 riders in contention for the remaining six places that will score at the very end of this second edition of the zift
Gr Prix this is going to be brilliant it’s so close between AA Synergy we can see the AA Synergy Jersey there tightly packed together in the middle don’t forget next Esports are represented by Brian Duffy there in that US national champions Jersey off the left hand side
Uh fryatt might as well have another go himself here again and it looks like he’s doing exactly that Neil fryatt from restart he’s the only restart Rider in this final group of 10 he’s had a very good ride to be there too indeed but there’s nobody in this
From now they’re leading at the moment on points but they’ve got nobody left in this front group there’s the world champion just towards the back looking good for waho lall but of course they’re not in with a shout of winning this overall it is all of course between next
Esports and AA Synergy on the night so far next Esports have seven points AA Synergy have five as Fri of the United States of America now goes clear for restart this is the third time he’s done this we’ve got this very very long straight all the way down still downhill
To the bottom left hand turn they turn left and and they will immediately see the Finish Line as well and he’s not the only one who’s now laying it down decock also having a crack for AA ABA Synergy in second can they make their numbers
Count in this final Sprint 6 5 4 3 2 and one are the points that will be scored from these 10 Riders it looks like that’s what they’re trying to do it looks like deck is just leading them out here well it certainly did look like
That for a few seconds just he wouldn’t be sitting on the front like this he’s putting out seven Watts a kilo six Watts a kilo everybody else about four three and a half Watts a kilo as the continues to ride hard and in fact he’s
Opened up a gap he’s turned on the gas 9.4 Watts a kilo they can’t get his wheel this is absolutely superb from the Belgian 580 M to go that left-hander is going to come up his lungs are going to be burning his legs are going to be on
Fire as well but he’s got a 1.4 second lead match deok is about to take the left hander here he’ll see the Finish Line straight away the Belgian riding for AA Synergy our leading team they would want to do this at the final round can he hang on though because they’re
Properly opening up behind now dck has gone long I think he’s going to get ped yes he is but by his own teammate he’s been passed by paradigms paradigm’s now going for the line it’s so close in this final Sprint absolutely electric racing right at the very end we’re watching a
Sprint from the front and it looks like I think paradig has hung on ahead of Duffy friet Andreas vanal and the the final point will be scored by Gilmore for the team who took it up early on today exagon as well that’s provisional we will confirm that for you in due of
Course but I have to say AA Synergy uh well behaving like the leading team in there but next Esports how close can they get in the final Point scoring nail biting finale so close wasn’t it it really was I mean Abus scored a few there that’s for sure uh with the win
With six and with fifth position another two so that’s seven points to add to their total um we I think we are getting the fin final points tally through I won’t give you it just yet till we get final confirmation until our Abacus at zwift headquarters is finally checked
And double checked again because there’s so much at stake here but what a brilliant race that was similar to The Spectacular women’s race we had it really came down to that final climb it exploded Riders previously had sacrificed themselves for the team and taken those points but for this series
To come down to the final five or sixks I think it says one thing the runers really taken to this this format and the format’s got the balance right and and what we do have is an immense uh strength in depth amongst the teams now there’s no one dominant team there are
From week to week we have dominant teams but I think there’s a real even playing field amongst the top teams now and that has made next on the race who’ve come up with this format and running it I think on the rawal pump room 8 course here at
Yorkshire it’s just the perfect way to finish I’m not just saying that as a proud Englishman I mean it because of the level of racing that it lends itself to as well it’s a spect spacular looking course but um absolutely perfect combination of climbs and flat Sprints
Yeah I mean you could have put this points race on a different sort of course um there’s points on on a different sort of course but I think you’re quite right firstly it’s it’s a real racing course it doesn’t suit the pure climbers it’s more of a Classics
Course really um so and that a Classics course an unpredictable course with descents little flat sections drags very steep climbs lends itself to Riders who are aggressive and and for the the whole series to come down to this final race on this final course I think was um was
Almost perfect it really was spectacular and and I said the roders have really taken to it it’s a it’s difficult format for the teams to get their head round but I tell you what it made for some intriguing entertaining racing and that’s what this is all about Nathan just to get your final
Thoughts on that men’s race it’s been such a close men’s series hasn’t it and I must say particularly when we saw Andreas trying to go solo like that I didn’t think we’d be Tre to such a close finish it was very very close wasn’t it well that’s kind of his Ace up his
Sleeve isn’t it that’s how he won the World Championship just snuck away off the front and he knew the reality is when it comes to a Sprint he doesn’t it those other guys there’s a couple in there that just got a crazy kick and you saw 17 watts per kilogram at the end
There coming from padan um you know I think Duffy Jr got drawn out a little bit like he he played it so intelligently I was watching and I was watching and he was fading back I saw Zero watts per kilogram from a lot he was so patient but eventually it comes
To a point where you start going am I going to be able to close this is this going to come back and you start risking a little bit and if he would have been on paradin Wheel maybe something could have been different but paradin at the
End of the day had like two watts per kilogram more in the Sprint he probably was just the fastest Sprinter at the end of the day but you can you know Chris ball I can’t go back and go oh if anything was different but I mean it was
It was really a nailbiter and they put on a show right to the end I mean whoever wins deserves it and I mean so so close at still too between those two teams and all the teams really and Nathan you got Matt and I here as two proud Englishmen uh we enjoy
Picking out the British Riders every now and again particularly in the men women’s race where they’ve been so strong I must have been very proud of you watching on with Neil friet there as well and Brian Duffy as well strong American performance right at the
End yeah I mean you know Duffy Jr and Neil fret going back to backto back three races one two one2 I mean over and over again battling out the national championships now it was kind of almost like a repeat of that a little bit a race within the race uh Duffy junor
Getting the better of him this time around but uh really cool to see them going you know top three and I I’m loving to see uh them raising the level for American Esports uh it’s definitely been the Europeans dominating for quite a while actually in this whole space and
This last year or so there’s been some talents coming out of America now on the women’s side Kristen kinsky we saw Weissman last week uh and now uh obviously Duffy Jr Neil fret I got to mention Gabby she wear she she flies the Brazilian flag but you know we’re
Getting we’re getting her naturalized over here too so okay we’ll watch this space we’ll look for that quiet changing the flag on zift no don’t worry if it happens I’ll be the first to point it out um just while we wait for the men’s points table on the night to be
Confirmed Nathan how excited are you about the uh the first ever edition of the zift games we got coming up in March it’s going to be a nice stepping stone for a lot of these Riders we’ve been watching tonight I guess yeah when you talk about uh democratization of like Merit and being
Able to bring that forward from Individual r iders right like you can there’s a huge selection of riders that are going to be able to come out of the community and show what they have in the zift games I really do think you know I
Think I like the naming of it I mean the idea is to have the Pinnacle of the sport being able to show one time a year really really well done so I think we’ve got this great series with zwift Grand Prix uh we’ve got national championships
You know popping up all over the place here on zwift and then we’ve got this like okay let’s have that major celebration of an international field of who the absolute Champions are of zwift as an individual that’s going to be so cool to see absolutely right I can
Confirm that we do have thank you Nathan we do have tallied up the points from tonight’s race there we go these are the race team points AA Synergy our leading team going into the night scoring 13 points ahead of next Esports who were in second they sit second as well this is
Uh not the overall points by by the way this is just for the race tonight Coalition Alpha in third on nine points ahead of Mau star restart um where are where oh dear me where am I looking for Swedish swifters had a good night in sixth place waho Lal
Though uh slipping a little bit there in terms of where they would hope to be remember they went into uh this round in third place they finished the round though this is not the overall standing just is on the on the on the actual round points itself in seventh place
Toyoto Elite eite again e exagon bl13 castelli Elite DPAC Elite foodon and uh there we go all way down to the bottom through beast mode primore off the bottom and SAR snow pins down there at the bottom in the pink and white to uh packing out the numbers AA Synergy Matt
And looking good I think I know what that might have done to the overall point score that might be a little indication of where things are going I think so we’ll get the exact points uh yeah but but look at that look at the point score on the night though between
The two top teams one point in it and it came down to that fin it it came down to numbers at the end as it always did they had three rers in the finale so they did they they rode so wisely that they they made sure that they kept that group to
Together to keep to get paradigms in the in in the lead they did that long lead out so they they had looked at the situation they made a call and they stuck to it and had they done up next and here is it VOA AB on top for an Leonard is
Team p in 15th and PR more racing Without Borders Esports down in 16th Place with 10 points that concludes the overall points table for the second ever edition of the zift Grand Prix and already onwards team managers teams Riders and US starting to think about
Next year year zift gr Prix but not of course before we brought you the zift games which might just change absolutely everything massive congratulations to all those riders in there um one of the things we want to do on this final round is actually grab a word with some of the
Riders Our Winning women’s team our utterly dominant women’s team of Coalition Alpha resplendant here in their Avatar sense in game I’m pleased to say we do have one of their Riders IRL ready to chat to us it’s the British Rider Alice Lethbridge hey Alice Welcome to
Our coverage hi thanks for having us on and thanks I just going to say thanks for the series as well oh not at all it’s been very much our pleasure it has been so good watching the way your team have taken it on such aggressive racing um and also
When we consider where you came from last year where last year’s series was dominated really by aonian um your team I think your team in theend end last year you was sort of uh 10th I do apologize you were 10th last year the you’re of course as strong as the makeup
Of your parts but um can you tell us a bit about how you joined the team and the journey you’ve been on within Coalition Alpha yeah so um obviously I was really fortunate um to get to go and do the Esports Olympics out in Singapore
And I was on the same team as Leo um and I just got chatting to him because I was managing socks for whats last year who did really really well but we didn’t quite have the setup to um match aonian and really challenge them um so I had a
Chat with them and basically said I know you’ve got some really strong Riders at Coalition Alpha um you know I would like to come across and bring some of my Riders um with me um and I think um like this year we’ve had a star in Lou but
One of the reasons Lou has been able to just really fulfill her potential is because she knows she’s got back up um and then she’s really inspired the other Riders so we’ve just had an absolutely phenomenal team spirit um All Season Alice does it help I mean I’m a
Bit biased you’re talking to a British commentator you’ve got a strong core you’ve mentioned Lou there but you got a strong core of British Riders but also not just that a nice mix of different nationalities we’ve just seen ABA Synergy in the men’s race win with an
All Belgian team um I’m guessing it must when you can communicate with each other in the same language and and you maybe know each other’s know some of each other IRL in real life as well yeah so like Mary and I know each other really really well from racing in real life um
And then I guess you know Steph’s been Racing for a long time on Swift too so we’ve known her through that um and yeah just picking up the Riders lots of us race Community stuff together as well we chat all the time in the week we’re all we’re all friends um so the
Communication just flows there’s no problem and we also know each other as Riders um we know the strengths um we know we’ve got good swiftcraft on the team as well I’d say too we you know just I think Matt got a question as well yeah yeah thanks CH hey Al
Congratulations but uh what I wanted to ask you what what are your thoughts how how do you tactically get to grips with the weekly change of formats that must take a lot of work behind the scenes to okay how do you how do you how do you
You grapple with that and do and I take it you must enjoy it yeah so um I was really happy to race tonight um because I’ve had to sit out a few races ill but that was almost a blessing in disguise for the team because I ended up in the
Team car and I’m kind of obsessive with Statistics and numbers and I just love cycle racing so I’m a bit like it in real life as well I watch a lot um I know about other Riders too so we decided like being aggressive was the
Best form of like to race but we also like know the other Riders so we know who to chase who not to Chase and these sorts of things so play to our strengths but also just be smart well it’s it’s been great it’s been great to watch it’s been fantastic
And hopefully we’ll see you without being uh well put too much pressure in the sft games as well yeah I think a lot of our Riders will be joining it um really h unfortunately one of them clashes with one of the British national series women’s races Outdoors so some of
Us can’t do all of them but some of the Riders will be going for all of the races and the rest of us will support them the best we can in the others great stuff thank you fantastic thank you Alice and well done to your team Coalition Alpha as well
Enjoy the celebrations I hope you get to celebrate maybe virtual celebrations yeah and thanks to all the other writers that have made it so special too fantastic thank you Alice well what a lovely moment to be able to actually touch base IRL with one of our best Riders as well racing tonight the
British Rider Alice Lethbridge for the Coalition Alpha Team managed by ree Hal so big hats off to re as well uh for a fantastic performance by them um I think we got some little replays of the winners as well to watch let’s have a look at them as they happen too maybe
Getting a chance to look back on the uh on the finales this was as well coming into the Finish um in the men’s race H what a what an overlap we saw there as well what a amazing final Sprint I quite enjoyed watching it from
Just over in front as well as we watched that final Sprint being laid down what a finale that was the Sprint of the men’s race really close and not everyone there’re scoring either and they’d have known that as well every single place count counted neor Synergy it is
Remarkable Matt isn’t it I think and actually there’s something quite neat about that as well there talking to Alice about a team today Coalition Alpha for the women that had three British Riders an American and a German Rider so quite multinational but then that AA Synergy team very much true to the color
Of their Jersey too an all Belgian team and that can’t be I I guess there are some benefits through communication the Riders knowing each other being close to each other and what have you um but also to bring together a te team of combined strengths like that you could imagine
Maybe the strongest team being made up of handpick riders from different countries all over the place but nothing like that with AA Synergy all Belgian all in and winning exactly and we we talked about it at the top of the show didn’t we we identified that arguably their strongest
Allrounder Leonard Turles didn’t even ride tonight so what they have whatever generally whatever permutation and Leonard actually hasn’t certainly ridden all the rounds either um they’ve got strength in depth um uh so to basically whatever permutation of riders they field in any event regardless of it
Being a points race a scratch race a team time trol um they do well so they’re consistent because they have strength in depth uh and also as uh as Alice was saying that they they race smart they’re intelligent um and especially on a difficult course like this the harder the course the better
Really although saying that they are that they’re very effective on the flatter courses too so um they are the Benchmark and we talked about the the raising standards across the board um and how how close it was in the end but every single series of the zift Grand
Prix we see generally the bar raised and it’s Abus that are the team of the moment um so that they won um it was tight in the end but it’s just their strength and depth that gave them that extra resilience I think I think we should be able to go to
I think we may have an interview actually with oh I do apologize we’re going to see a replay of the women’s final first and then we’re lining up an interesting interview which I’ll hold back for you but I’ll tease you with that one let’s have a look at the finale of the women’s
Race colomi so impressive over the last two rounds Seline colomi and solo by herself coming into that finish and a little wave for the crowd I like it look at the shots there of her finishing utterly exhausted Nathan zift is a um a horribly when you watch the rider unless
You’re watching the racing that’s the wonderful thing about people watching this on YouTube you get to get absorbed in the racing in actual fact if you if you literally ignore the numbers ignore the tables and charts you’re watching a brilliant electric race but it’s brutally hard on the body isn’t it so
Difficult to cool yourself down we watched Seline columia finishing there she’s absolutely drenched and exhausted it’s like nothing else isn’t it the effort yeah I mean the the effort put in for for sure you actually are bringing back memories of my first uh real year of of training on zwift fairly
Exclusively through uh right up until my opening mountain bike season and I remember um the moves being made in that race and a surprise of like oh I’m really familiar with this suffering and this doesn’t feel that bad because of how much I had put in when it came to
Like racing kiss 100s on the weekends jumping into the Tuesday night you know zift training races and and the kind of like trying to hold on with a worldwide level of talent that was uh definitely an eyeopener for me uh there is just a reality of like these people are just
Throwing down as much power as they possibly can it’s very tactical there’s drafting there’s all that kind of stuff but there’s also like you are sat in a stationary spot on your bike and produced in as much power as you possibly can throughout the entirety of whatever that interval might be right so
It it’s a lot more controlled and with that control um about power outputs and all that kind of stuff it really I think accentuates that need to just throw it all down on the line at those moments so um definitely it’s a it’s a type of
Suffering a type of um sport in its own right as far as like how you get it done in that respect as far as how hard it is Nathan thank you so much for being there for us throughout this whole series this winter both on the bike
Racing but also giving us your Insight and knowledge thank you mate we really really appreciate it uh I’m hearing rumors that the ABA Synergy men’s team are too busy celebrating even to talk to us and why not they richly deserve it as well the belgians maybe they’re popping
Open a Belgian beer or two and why not celebrating their incredible performance Matt it’s been a fitting finale to a brilliant winter of racing here in the second edition of the zift G Prix isn’t it it’s been great we knew this race was was going to be a thriller lots to play
For lots of Jeopardy and we got it it was it’s been entertaining in spad with uh this disruptive format I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it’s been a pleasure working alongside you and also to be able to pick the brains of uh of the preeminent expert on Swift probably as
You know is the world’s number one expert on Swift if you ask me it’s Nathan Guera always uh interesting I’ve learned so much being in his company um hopefully be back on his bike soon so we can actually call him across the line in a few more races but always good to pick
His gr it’s been a pleasure um and I’m looking forward to the zift Grand Prix next season but of course uh in between I’m looking forward to the the zift games and um so I’ll see you all then but it’s been it’s been a pleasure it always is thank you Matt so get
Yourselves to zwift.com to find out how you can start your zwifting journey it’s the app that makes indoor cycling fun download it get on it figure out how you can get entered to the zift games all the details are there at zwift.com and through the app as well check it all out
There and get on board with us it’s been an incredible winter I’ve particularly enjoyed I want to say a big thank you to Matt and Johnny and all the team who work so hard behind the scenes to bring you our incredible YouTube coverage which has really gone a notch up this
Year it’s been incredibly uh professional and really slick to be involved with I hope those of you who’ve been watching it on YouTube all around the world have been enjoying it let us know how you feel about it in your comments what you’d like to see more of going
Forward as well I can tell you we’re moving up yet another notch when we bring you our coverage of the zift games I’ve heard some horrific rumors Matt that our commentators including you and I might be in Vision on shot so I’m off to have my teeth whitened and have a fresh
Haircut I need a haircut look at this mate oh luckily the people can’t actually see it they can just well it’s it’s big uh but yeah that that’s going to get some work it’s quite the Barnet um we’re so looking forward to bring it to you we’re
So excited about it make sure you follow us on that Journey so as I say thanks to everyone behind the team thank you to the zrl ZL team who were behind helping us bring you a lot of these rounds as well the community as well but primarily
The Riders without whom we wouldn’t have had the entertainment we have had to all the men to all the women who’ve taken part in this rft Grand Prix a massive thank you to you big thank you of course to Hannah Walker uh and Matt Stevens my co- commentators here as well and for
The final time this year from M Jaz Cox thank you for joining us and see you again soon Bye-bye let’s hit up let games was with pleasure Byebye dear left brain don’t say we can’t so just don’t say another word these thoughts you’ve imaged AR real aren’t adding up you fetched your ideas from nowhere all From Another World your logic’s impaired your full picture is cropped cuz we both know
1 Comment
Sterk mannen !!!!!