The Zwift Games will offer a month-long series of competitions for all abilities and elite races to crown the first Zwift Games Overall Champion.
The UCI’s decision to award the 2024 through 2026 tender to host the Esports World Championships to rival MyWhoosh provided Zwift with a unique opportunity to reassess its approach, according to Sean Parry, the head of Zwift Racing.
“It allowed us to ponder a fundamental question: had we started from scratch three years ago, without any external constraints, how would we have shaped Zwift’s racing landscape?” he said to The Zommunique’.
The answer to the question initially asked back in September during the “This Season on Zwift” press conference when VP of Content Mark Cote foreshadowed, “We’re Doubling Down on Racing,” the Zwift Games aims to cultivate racing from the grassroots level, conceiving of a community activation event with elite championships as a secondary layer.
CEO Eric Min confirmed Zwift’s intentions when he shared the event’s announcement on social media, saying, “Community competition could not be more accessible.”
With a five-stage series of community-based races, new specifically designed courses, in-game unlocks from Oakley and adidas, enhanced broadcasting features, compelling elite racing formats, a gold Concept Z1 “Tron” bike for the elite Zwift Champions, and a unique gold-painted Wahoo KICKR Bike to the Zwift Games Overall Champion, Parry is on to something special.
Here is everything you need to know about the inaugural Zwift Games.
Community Racing, New Courses, Route Badges, and How to Sign Up
The Zwift Games celebrates the culmination of the racing season in the northern hemisphere with a widespread participation event throughout March, connecting the community to elite racing more authentically. Zwift acknowledged the disconnect people felt in the past, where the formats seemed exclusive to elite riders, leaving the broader community feeling sidelined.
With the Zwift games, they flipped this approach, envisioning it as a community activation event with elite championships as an additional element rather than the primary focus. This initiative is part of Zwift’s ambition to engage the community at all racing levels more meaningfully. The sport’s growth, especially from an elite perspective, hinges on expanding the audience, and Zwift believes integration across all abilities is essential to the event.
All Zwifters are invited to participate in the five-stage series, with in-game registration live now and online registration opening Monday, February 26th. Stages 1-5 will run in order between March 1st and March 17th, with make-up events for each stage available from March 18th to March 31st.
Four new courses have been specially designed for the Zwift Games, utilizing Zwift’s expansive road network.
- Loop De Loop: 12.4 km, 145m
- Jurassic Coast: 19.5 km, 212m
- Zwift Games 2024 Epic: 81.5 km, 878m
- Mountain Mash: 5.9 km, 335m
Each route promises dynamic racing experiences that will be enjoyable to ride and watch as the elite racers battle. Completing each new course also unlocks additional route badges to collect.
Stage 1: Loop De Loop
The first Sprint Stage of the Zwift Games is in on the new Loop De Loop route. Beginning in downtown Watopia, the race includes two laps of the 2.4 km route, totaling 24.9 km with 289 m of climbing, incorporating two ascents of the Zwift KOM.
Stage 2: Jurassic Coast
The newly designed Jurassic Coast route is the stage of the scene of the second Sprint Stage. The race totals 19.5 km with 212 m of ascent, starting in the Fuego Flats start pens and climbing through Titans Grove to Watopia’s Southern Coast.
Stage 3: Zwift Games 2024 Epic and Three Little Sisters
The Zwift Games 2024 Epic course will test the category A&B racers during the Stage 3 Epic Stage. The 81.6 km route totaling 878 m of climbing finishes atop the KOM after tackling much of Watopia.
Category C&D racers will climb 434 m along the 37.7 km Three Little Sisters route, which includes the KOM, Titans Grove, and VolKOM.
Stage 4: Glasgow Crit Circuit
Stage 4 is five laps of the crit circuit totaling 15.3 km.
Stage 5: Road to Sky and Mountain Mash
Category A&B riders will race to the top of the iconic Alpe du Zwift during Stage 5, covering 17.3 km with 1,047 m of climbing.
The new 5.9 km Mountain Mash route featuring 335m of climbing will be the scene of Stage 5 for category C&D racers.
Sponsors and Unlocks
In an exciting development for the event and the future of racing on the platform, Zwift has partnered with adidas and Oakley to introduce in-game merchandise, significantly enhancing the mass participation aspect of their events. This collaboration marks a pivotal moment, as it’s the first time Zwift has attracted such massive global brands to support an event like this.
Non-endemic brands hadn’t shown this level of interest during the cycling Esports World Championships before. Their willingness to engage with Zwift represents a significant milestone not just for this particular event but for the sport of virtual cycling, indicating a growing crossover appeal.
The focus of this partnership is primarily on the community aspect. Participants in the events will have the opportunity to unlock exclusive in-game items. For instance, joining one or two races will enable players to unlock special adidas shoes and stylish Oakley glasses.
This approach aims to attract a broader audience, offering them a unique experience and the chance to acquire these exclusive virtual items.
Elite Racing in the 2024 Zwift Games
What Zwift billed as the most democratic virtual racing event has shaped up to be a “Who’s Who” of the elite cycling esports world. Over 300 elite athletes from 33 countries will be competing.
With a start list including 2024 US National Champs Brian Duffy and Kristen Kulchinsky, Zwift Grand Prix standout Lou Bates, and reigning World Champion Bjorn Andreassen headling the field of over 180 men and 100 women racers, the Zwift Games title will be worth its weight in gold.
The start list for the men’s and women’s elite fields are here.
The Gold Tron is the Zwift Games equivalent of the virtual rainbow stripes.
A gold Tron bike, that is, and a gold-painted Wahoo KICKR bike to the grand champion! Plus, a prize purse awarding $7,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place, and $3,000 for third place in each championship.
The Sprint Championship Details
The Sprint Championship will comprise three consecutive scratch races, mirroring the Zwift Battle Royale format utilized for the 2023 World Championships. All races will be scratch races, and advancement will hinge on the finishing position in each race, with 10 racers competing in the final. The top 100 score points toward the Overall Championship
Men: March 2nd at 6 pm UTC
Women: March 3rd at 6 pm UTC
The Epic Championship Details
This challenging standalone race on the newly crafted Zwift Games 2024 Epic route designed to push the limits of endurance promises to be unforgettable. With a $1,000 prime at the Titans KOM forward and reverse, an intriguing strategic twist is added to the mix.
Men: March 9th at 6 pm UTC
Women: March 10th at 6 pm UTC
The Climb Championship Details
The Zwift Games 2024 finale will feature a memorable challenge on Watopia’s ‘Road to Sky’ route, culminating at the summit of the iconic Alpe du Zwift. If ever there was a chance to see a new KOM on the AdZ, this is it!
Men: March 16th at 6 pm UTC
Women: March 17th at 6 pm UTC
The Broadcast and How to Watch!
Matt Stephens and Hannah Walker will reportedly be providing the commentary. Zwift Community Live’s Nathan Guerra and Dave Towle will offer insight and highlight the athletes and the event in pre-race features.
Continuing the engaging evolution of the Zwift Grand Prix broadcasts, expect an inside perspective from rider pundits sharing personal experiences and breaking down tactics and team strategy. The mandatory use of a live video feed by all competitors will make showcasing the human element of the racers in the expansive fields easier.
In addition, introducing Director Sportifs into the broadcast will provide deeper analysis and personal insights into a broader range of riders and teams.
Watch all of the races here.
Additional Details about The Zwift Games
- Independent Third-Party Performance Verification and Governance by indieVelo
- All riders are eligible to enter the Wahoo Overall Championship.
- The top 100 Sprint, Epic, and Climb Championship finishers will score points toward the Wahoo Overall Championship.
- The rider with the highest overall points total across all three Championships will be crowned the Wahoo Overall Champion.
- Overall points will be tracked during the broadcast throughout the Championships, culminating in the Climb Championship, where Zwift will crown the Overall Champion.
- The rider leading the Wahoo Overall classification will wear the Overall leader’s jersey in both the Epic and Climb races.
- In case of ties on points, the highest-placed finisher in the Climb Championship will break the tie.
- Each gender will have one winner who will receive $10,000, an iconic gold Concept Z1 bike in the game, and a custom-made gold Wahoo Kickr Bike!
Good luck to all the racers of all abilities!
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.
Our ‘central source for cycling e-sports’ is yet to publish any commentary on the actual Zwift Games races themselves !
Are you looking for race reports, Lloyd?
Yes- would be interested to hear the Zommunique take on them. Apologies if I’ve missed them on the website!
First of all, I appreciate your support and the suggestion.
No, you haven’t! I didn’t write any this time. There hasn’t been much engagement with the race reports in the past.
Since Eric at ZwiftInsider is writing them, I decided to pass. I was also away in LA meeting up with Si.
I’ll take it into account for the future. Thank you!
That’s fair enough, and to be honest it wasn’t so much about the individual races but more how you’ve seen the series overall, so maybe a wrap-up article at the end would be best way if you do get time. Just found it curious given the aspiration to be at the front of e-cycling that there hasn’t been more about the biggest event of the year here, but I get that you’ve been busy with LA too. Keep up the great content – what does get published here is always an interesting read, and the podcasts too.
Thanks again, Lloyd! That is my goal!