This morning, Zwift has announced full details on the inaugural Zwift Games which will take place next month in what the platform says will be a 'month-long festival of competition'.
Zwift unveiled the new Zwift Games competition back in November 2023. In what could be seen as the company's response to competitor MyWhoosh winning the contract to deliver the UCI ESports World Championships for the next three years, a competition previously delivered by Zwift.
Today, Zwift has announced a raft of information regarding the upcoming competition, including new title sponsorship from Adidas, Oakley and Wahoo (a brand that Zwift has partnered up with recently).
The competition also offers more prize money for male and female elite winners than a win at the UCI Glasgow World Road Race Championships, and the brand claim it is their largest prize fund ever. In theory, a racer stands to win up to $31,000 if they win every race. All the Elite racing will also be broadcast live on the Zwift YouTube channel.
Zwift has also announced further competition details including full competitor start lists, the race format and course details, as well as opportunities for all Zwift users to get involved.
The Elite Championship
The male and female Zwift Games Championship will comprise three separate medal disciplines. Some 187 men and 117 female riders are set to compete in the three different races which will include the Sprint Championship and Epic Championship on the brand new Zwift Games Epic Route, and the Climb Championship, which will take in the Watopia 'Road to Sky' route featuring the Alpe du Zwift climb. The events will take place on different days in March. Full breakdowns are below.
Sprint Championship - Men: 2nd March / Women: 3rd March
Epic Championship: - Men: 9th March / Women: 10th March
Climb Championship - Men: 16th March / Women: 17th March
Zwift says the events have been created to find the best Zwifter across all disciplines. The overall champions will be the riders who have the highest overall points total at the end of the three stages and the top 100 finishers in each of the three races will be awarded overall points.
As well as the Zwift Games Overall Champion title and prize money package, winning riders will win a custom gold-painted Wahoo Kickr Bike as well as a gold Concept Z1 bike to use in the game.
Competitors will be required to use equipment 'on the whitelist of +/-1% trainers or smart bikes', essentially only the most accurate smart trainers or bikes, alongside dual power recording. They will also need to complete pre-verification checks as well as pre-race weigh-in videos. Post-race performance verification will also apply to all races according to Zwift to ensure fair play. In-game wheels and bike frames will be neutralised to ensure there are no unfair advantages, and trainer difficulty will need to be set at 100%.
Community Racing
Anyone with a Zwift account will be able to participate in a five-stage Community Race series. Zwift says four new courses have been specially designed for the series which will be specific to the rider category.
Riders who compete in all five races will also take part in the general classification challenge. The aim is to achieve their best combined time over the month. Riders will also be able to complete stages more than once to try and improve their overall time. Riders will also be able to track their overall classification rankings using Zwift Power.
Zwift also says exclusive in-game unlocks will be available for each stage that riders complete. Rides will be category-enforced and will run in order from March 1st to March 17th. Exclusive Adidas and Oakley in-game cycling kit will be available to unlock for Zwifters. Competing two stages of the community race series will unlock Oakley Sphaera glasses in-game. The Adidas Tempo 3 Stripe shoes will be available for any Zwifter who completes one stage of the Community races.
In-game registration for the series is now live, and online registration opens Monday the 26th of Feb.
The Zwift Games community races will take place on the following courses: Loop de Loop, Jurassic Coast, Zwift Games Epic (A&B), Three Little Sisters (C&D), Glasgow Crit Circuit, Road to Sky (A&B) and Mountain Mash (C&D). Full course details can be seen below.
