Zwift gathered feedback after the first Zwift Games and shared how planned enhancements aim to improve the Zwift Games 2025.
When the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) awarded the hosting rights for the 2024-2026 Cycling Esports World Championships to MyWhoosh, the decision marked a significant shift from the three previous championships hosted by Zwift, where the event originated.
Sean Parry, Zwift’s Director of Racing, viewed this change as an opportunity to re-evaluate Zwift’s approach to elite-level racing. He told The Zommunique’, “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?”
This introspection led Zwift to focus on enhancing its community and elite racing experiences, aiming to innovate and improve the platform for its competitive users and cycling esports enthusiasts, culminating in the creation of the inaugural Zwift Games in 2024.
The new championship format delivered thrilling racing, crowned deserving overall champions Freddy Ovett and Kathrin Fuhrer, and shattered community participation records. The Zwift Games saw over 80,000 participants and an impressive 215,000 races completed. Field sizes set new top marks, with nearly 50 races exceeding 1,000 starters and an average attendance of over 250 racers per event.
Zwift pledged to build on the inaugural event’s success, promising to establish it as an annual highlight on the community and elite racing calendar.
Parry expanded on the philosophy, saying to The Zommunique’, “Following the inaugural Zwift Games, we undertook an extensive review process with the aim of learning, engaging and making improvements for the second edition in 2025. Our simple aim is to continue to make the event more and more compelling for both athletes and viewers every year.
As part of this process we surveyed all of the athletes that took part in ZG24 and sought direct feedback and suggestions from a range of stakeholders involved in all aspects of the event.
In particular, the rider feedback we received has been central in informing our exciting updates for ZG25.“
An email sent out to elite team organizers and racers containing early details about the 2025 Zwift Games confirmed the plans, highlighted several changes to this year’s event, and urged riders to “please save the dates now!”
Schedule
Speaking of dates, the 2025 Zwift Games will begin a week later than last year, and unlike 2024, the men’s and women’s races will be on the same day (they were on consecutive days last year).
The Sprint Stages and Championship will be at 4 pm UTC on Saturday, March 8th, 2025. The Climb will follow at the same time the next week, Saturday, March 15th, 2025. Then, the Epic a week later on Saturday, March 22nd, 2025.
Last year’s ZG races were held on Saturdays and Sundays with men’s and women’s on separate days. This year all races will take place on Saturday only. Rationale includes:
- Providing an integrated men’s and women’s broadcast which provides equal exposure and audience.
- Making it easier to commit to as a viewer with all of the action in one fast-moving and entertaining broadcast.
- Saturdays were the optimal day to focus on in the context of the wider cycling and cycling esports calendar at this time of year – for both viewers and riders.
- Racing on Sunday afternoon/evening European time creeps into some athletes Monday and we wanted to avoid that in 25.
-Sean Parry, Zwift’s Director of Racing
With the fifth and final Zwift World Series Elite Race “done and dusted” on January 30th, 2025, it gives the Zwift Race team time to issue the Race Rulebook on January 31st and the racers to accept their invites by February 12th. Zwift will finalize the official start list by February 28th.
The later start eliminates scheduling conflicts for elite racers with the Echelon Racing League on MyWhoosh and the Restart Esports Invitational on Zwift.
More importantly, since they are likely UCI Cycling Esports World Championship qualifier events, North American and European racers will be able to focus on the February 1st, 2025, USA Cycling Esports National Championships, the Swedish National Championship on February 7th, and Cycling Canada Esports National Championships on February 8th & 9th, 2025, all on MyWhoosh, and the February 1st Danish Cycling Union’s Nationals on Zwift, before Zwift Games recon rides begin on February 17th.
Format
Riders must prioritize recce this year to familiarize themselves with the format changes and refine their tactics and strategies for success.
Sprint Championship
Stages 1 (16.1 km 85m elevation) and 2 (18.1 km 166m), Sprint Stages, will be on the same day, with a brief break between races. The top 5 riders with the highest cumulative points from these stages will progress to Stage 3 (3 km 34m), the Sprint Championship showdown, to claim the title of Sprint Champion.
The reduced stage distances, totaling 10 km fewer than last year, will amplify the importance of every tactical decision, and with only five riders competing in the championship showdown, magnify the intensity of the fast-paced 3 km dash to Zwift sprint supremacy.
Climb Championship
Unlike in 2024, this year’s Climb Championship isn’t one massive 1,047 m effort up the Alpe du Zwift. Instead, it will follow a format similar to the Sprint.
The top 5 riders ascending from Stage 3 (19.5 km 275 m elevation) and Stage 4 (20.9 km 357 m) will battle for a chance to climb onto the podium during the 5 km championship, which features 156 m of pitch.
With over 250 fewer meters of climbing spread across multiple stages, the format shift might disappoint pure climbers while energizing all-rounders eager to capitalize on an unexpected opportunity to score GC points towards the overall.
Those riders looking forward to another chance at conquering 2024’s Zwift Games Epic course, which featured 878 m of climbing across 81.5 km and multiple primes, will also be underwhelmed by the distance.
We wanted to emphasize the Overall classification and position Zwift Games as cycling esports’ premier stage race. This will allow us to build more narrative over the course of the race, secure consistent rider participation across the three events/5 stages, and in conjunction with the prize money changes, provide more motivation and reward for more athletes.
By running stage(s) each weekend, we have also managed to retain three discipline championships (Sprint, Climb, and Epic) within the event. These will:
- Maintain the Championship categories we established in ZG24, each with its own golden Concept Z1 recipients.
- Add significant additional excitement to each and every broadcast with a unique 5 rider championships showdown race. These small championship races will also allow us hero the top athletes in a compelling way.
- Celebrate the different skills needed to be a successful cycling esports athletes.
- Provide a range of different athletes with a chance to shine over the course of the event.
-Sean Parry, Zwift’s Director of Racing
Epic Championship
2025’s Stage 5 Epic scratch race is 37 km shorter, but the 896 m of climbing packed into a shorter course will pack an epic punch.
The 2024 Zwift Games saw vast fields: Sprint, 97 women and 161 men; Epic, 106 women and 181 men; and Climb, 104 women and 156 men, on the start list. In 2025, field sizes will be reduced to 50-60 starters, promising more engaging and tactically intriguing races and each coveted spot in the pen more valuable.
With only five riders competing in the championship showdown, the broadcast can focus on conveying the rider’s athleticism, emotional struggle, and the intensity of the human competition as riders battle for a place on the podium.
Prize Purse
In addition to the podium finishers in the Sprint, Climb, and Epic Championships, the Zwift Games Overall Winner’s Prize Purse pays out 30 places deep.
Zwift Games General Classification standings will also serve as one of the criteria for awarding Series Passes to riders in the upcoming Zwift World Series. Only riders that compete in all five stages are eligible for Overall money.
The overall prize purse is slightly higher than last year but is distributed in a very different way. We received consistent athlete feedback about last year’s prize structure and made these changes accordingly.
In particular:
- We wanted to ensure there was something to fight for every athlete going into the last race. Every place in every race will count!
- We want to reward a much wider range of athletes for their commitment, talent, and dedication to the sport they show year-round.
-Sean Parry, Zwift’s Director of Racing
Rest assured, all eight champions will still unlock the coveted golden Concept Z1 Tron bike, the Zwift Games equivalent of the iconic Rainbow Stripes. However, with 78 opportunities to earn cash prizes and a Series Pass up for grabs, riders now have far more monetary motivation and incentive to see the series through than in 2024.
Sponsorship
Unfortunately, this year’s Overall Winners won’t go home with a gold bedazzled Wahoo KickR Bike like in 2024. The last Zwift Games broke new ground when it partnered with non-endemic sponsors adidas and Oakley, the first time a cycling esports event attracted massive global brand sponsorship.
In 2024, Wahoo Fitness was the title sponsor for the Overall Zwift Games Championship, awarding exclusive gold-painted Wahoo KICKR Bikes to the champions. However, Wahoo will not sponsor the 2025 Overall Championship. Zwift appears to be moving away from hardware partnerships in its elite events, aiming to maintain brand neutrality and avoid any perceived biases in performance verification.
We’ve secured an expanded range of global partners for ZG 2025 reflecting the unique platform the event creates to connect with racers globally.
These partners will be announced in due course. In 2025 we are not offering a hardware partner category, as it is important that we remain neutral and unconflicted in this space when it comes to elite racing.
-Sean Parry, Zwift’s Director of Racing
It’s not surprising considering Wahoo’s power drift issues that caused headaches for several top Zwift World Series riders and the hardware company’s uninspiring comment, “We believe this to be an edge case that impacts only the most powerful indoor racing specialists.” (You can read the entire statement here.)
Qualification
Zwift billed the 2024 Games as the most democratic virtual racing event in the sport’s history, with over 300 riders from 33 countries highlighting the elite field of over 180 men and 100 women filling the start list.
A series of elite qualification races were held for the Sprint Championship, but none for the Epic or Climb categories. While riders meeting pre-verification eligibility criteria could qualify, the absence of a community pathway left a gap in fostering connections to the sport and providing amateurs with a clear opportunity to compete against the pros.
- Zwift Games is now part of an integrated year round pathway with Zwift World Series providing the primary qualification pathway
- This year racing will be limited to 50-60 riders, with the aim of balancing entertaining racing, high field quality and access for riders.
- Zwift World Series provides regular season racing and a regular open pathway for any Zwifter on the planet to get involved and earn their place on the Zwift Games startline, which we expect to have the highest quality field we’ve seen
- This qualification mechanism was communicated before the Zwift World Series began.
- We know that there are world class riders that have not been able to take part in ZWS or commit to cycling esports year round and therefore we have retained the option to add wildcard riders
-Sean Parry, Zwift’s Director of Racing
This year, the top 50 riders in the Zwift World Series Overall Classification secured automatic invitations to the Zwift Games 2025. Each of the five monthly Zwift World Series races, starting with Race 1 on September 19th, 2024, is preceded by an open qualifier two weeks prior.
The revised qualification process creates a crucial community pathway to elite races, providing undiscovered talent the opportunity to secure a coveted spot in the 2025 Zwift Games. This change transforms the Zwift Games into a true season-ending championship, where any Zwift rider can qualify through their performance in the World Series.
Parry concluded, “We’ve made lots of enhancements to the community racing program – further details about the community racing will be released in due course. In 2025 all of the community riders will be taking on exactly the same courses as the elite riders in the Overall.“
Stay tuned and save the date! The 2025 Zwift Games promises to be better than before.
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.
