Zwift Thursday Early Bird Training Race Report 2015-10-29

Raw footage of the race. Includes last lap of C race and finish line footage of most finishers.

The folks at Zwift decked Watopia out in Halloween decorations for today's edition of the Zwift Thursday Early Bird training race. More than 50 racers showed up to start the race. As an experiment to make the race more accessible, the C&D group race was shortened by one lap to 4 laps including neutral. The A&B groups rode 5 laps (4 1/2 at race pace) as usual. We also experimented with a staggered start that was unfortunately not very successful.

M. Weulink* attacked the group on the second climb and wasn't seen again after the rest of the pack determined he was holding a power nobody could match. In the real race, J. T. (Team dZi) attacked on the KOM and managed to hold of four chasers to the line. M. Matteo HUN won the sprint from the chase over C. DalCin. See Nathan Guerra's excellent coverage linked below for details.

R. Grosch outclassed the rest of the B group, crossing 38 seconds in front of P. Pryor who finished just ahead of T. De Meyer.

19 riders finished the C group race. D. Los and T. Hammarberg managed to stick with a chase group from the front race to draw out two minutes on the chasers. E. Nekkers put in a strong attack at the steepest part of the KOM climb to win from the main B group with J. Thompson and A. Pisculla following.

T. Haugan rode strong to win the D group with D. McKay following some minutes back. C. Alfonso hung tough to finish off the race further back.

Note: due to technical issues I'm missing the Strava times for the C and D groups. I am hoping that the segment times will become available and I will be able to update this post soon.

Nathan Guerra's live coverage

Zac Herrod's highlight reel

The front of the pack at the top of the first KOM climb.

J. T. (Team dZi) first verified power finisher in Group A

R. Grosch wins the Group B race

D. Los crosses the finish line first at the end of the Group C race

T. Haugan wins the Group D race

Full Results:

Group A
1. M. Weulink* 0:55:42 (44.6 km/h)
2. J. T. (Team dZi) 0:02:06
3. M. Matteo HUN 0:02:09
4. C. DalCin s.t.
5. E. Chmielewski s.t.
6. E. Angeli s.t.
7. K. Little 0:04:04
8. J. Rooney (X) 0:05:13
9. A. Self 0:05:19
10. J. Samuels 0:06:31

Group B
1. R. Grosch 0:59:05 (42.1 km/h)
2. P. Pryor 0:00:38
3. T. De Meyer 0:00:43
4. M. F. (NOR1) 0:00:48
5. D. Ronan 0:01:03
6. M. Simnett 0:02:22
7. D. Churchill 0:05:08
8. C. Baldi 0:05:18
9. A. Torma s.t.

Group C
1. D. Los
2. T. Hammarberg 0:00:11
3. E. Nekkers 0:02:03
4. J. Thompson 0:02:10
5. A. Pisculla 0:02:16
6. M. Steffens 0:02:24
7. J. Mora 0:02:44
8. B. Warren 0:02:49
9. A. Nascimento 0:04:07
10. M. 0:04:42
11. A. Withey 0:04:49
12. M. Martinez s.t.
13. K. Szijjarto s.t.
14. N. Wisisperger 0:05:03
15. M. Ede 0:05:19
16. R. Kennison 0:05:41
17. B. Afonso 0:08:17
18. D. Jones 0:12:14
19. T. Groves 0:16:02

Group D.
1. T. Haugan
2. D. McKay 0:04:30
3. C. Alfonso

* unverified zPower