The Zwift Grand Prix details, including participating teams, event formats, scheduled courses, important dates, and the $100,000 for racers.
Zwift is gearing up for an exciting Zwift Grand Prix season that starts on October 19th and wraps up in January, featuring seven rounds of action. This year, Zwift’s flagship elite racing event is expanding its roster to include sixteen men’s and women’s teams, adding six new teams in each division. Cyclists and esports fans can look forward to diverse race formats, including the intriguing Points Hunter, the challenging Mountain Points Race, and the grueling Epic Points Race.
The Zwift Race Team sent a survey to all potential racers and their teams, asking for feedback on the Zwift Grand Prix. With knowledge of past seasons and racer feedback, the competition team finalized the 2023/24 season details. Here are the highlights and a peek into Zwift’s decision process.
Teams
Here are the teams selected to represent the elite Zwift racing community for 2023/24!
Selected Teams - Men
ABUS – Synergy
Beastmode p/b ROSE
BL13 p/b Level Velo
Coalition Alpha
dPAC-ELITE
Foudre Punchers Coalition
Hexagone
Movistar eTeam
NeXT eSports p/b Enshored
Primór RWB esports
Restart p/b Alex Coh
Saris I Nopinz
Team Castelli p/b Elite
Team Swedish Zwifters
Toyota Elite ECycling
Wahoo Le Col
The requirement for co-ed teams understandably stimulated debate and a wide range of feedback (both positive and negative) from Zwift teams. Whilst we believe that a co-ed structure offers a wide range of opportunities for the overall growth of the sport, we are also aware of the short term challenges that this poses for some existing gender specific teams. We listened carefully to the concerns that have been raised and, as a result, decided to move back to separate men's and women's team classifications with no combined points table as in 22/23. We are nevertheless extremely excited that this year's Zwift Grand Prix will feature 13 teams that have men’s and women’s squads - a record high!
Selected Teams - Women
Aeonian
ABUS – Synergy
Beastmode p/b ROSE
BL13 p/b Level Velo
Coalition Alpha
Hexagone
Movistar eTeam
NeXT eSports p/b Enshored
Primór RWB esports Femmes
Rocacorba Collective
Saris I Nopinz
Team Castelli p/b Elite
Team Swedish Zwifters
Toyota Elite Cycling
Wahoo Le Col
Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24
Some insight from Zwift into the selection process:
The application process was open to any Zwift team. Interested teams were required to fill in a form with a standard list of questions by a set date. All responses were then evaluated and scored against the following set of evaluation criteria, which were also outlined in the original information provided to all interested teams.
Zwift will evaluate all applications according to the following criteria:
- Historical performance in Zwift Racing
- Team marketing support & commitment
- Historic behavior in Zwift racing and adhering to the spirit of the sport
- Zwift community engagement
We are delighted to be able to open up the ZGP to more teams this year and believe we have an extremely exciting mix
- All of the strongest teams from last season
- New teams aiming to make their mark in elite racing
- New male and female squads that are affiliated to existing high performing teams.
If you enjoy Si’s recons, you won’t want to miss his complete rundown of the teams, race formats, rounds, and prize purse implications. You might even get a prediction!
Season Overview and Key Points
In a move to further engage the community and on popular demand of the racers and fans, Zwift is integrating ZRL racing into rounds 3, 4, and 5 of the Zwift Grand Prix season. Both men and women will compete in ZRL-specific points races, scratch races, and TTTs.
This integration comes after a survey revealed that 73.6% of Zwift elite racers believe it’s vital for elite-level racing to have a connection with ZRL. Combining these two popular competitions, Zwift aims to offer all participants an enriched and cohesive racing experience.
In the recent rider survey, Zwift gathered some valuable insights worth sharing. A notable 57.9% of participants favor co-ed racing, echoing the sentiments observed during Olympic Esports Week.
When it comes to preferred Zwift Grand Prix formats, Points Hunter emerged as a clear favorite from last year’s lineup. Additionally, most riders felt that a 7-round season hit the sweet spot, and the requirement of having five riders per race for team events was also considered “just right” by the majority.
Race Formats
These are the format details and the what to watch out for!
Points Hunter
Total Riders: 80 (16 teams of 5)
Course: 2015 Richmond UCI
Distance: 32.7 km
Round: One and Seven
Mountain Points Race
Total Riders: 80 (16 teams of 5)
Course: Road to Sky
Distance: 17.3 km
Round: Two
Points available a the top of the Alps, and three intermediate bonus points during the climb! Racers finishing more than five minutes behind the first place rider will not score finish line points.
Epic Points Race
Total Riders: 80 (16 teams of 5)
Course: PRL Half
Distance: 69.7 km
Round: Six
Points will be available at the finish line and at the top of each of the 4 ascents of Box Hill! Racers finishing more than five minutes behind the first place rider will not score finish line points.
Prize and Participation $ Pool
| Yr | Prize/Gender | 1st Prize | Part. $ | Part./Team | Total | #Teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | $16,500 | $3,500 (to $250 for 12th) | $24,000 | $1,000 | $57,000 | 24 |
| 2023/24 | $10,000 | Winner takes all! | $80,000 | $2,500 | $100,000 | 32 |
$10,000 Winner Take All! The $100,000 total for the racers and their teams is a significant increase from last season.
Stay tuned for more updates on the upcoming Zwift Grand Prix 2023/24 season! Keep an eye out for news on the much-anticipated Zwift “Championship” [Spoiler: Not the working title] and broadcast details.
Click to hear Si and Chris interview Kristen Kulchinsky about her amazing real world racing success and what she thinks about the Zwift Grand Prix!
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
