7 riders were able to start today’s FTR after a trip across the dateline to Watopia from Zwift Island. Four race-speed ascents of the Mur de Watopia were on the agenda for the day. With a small field and a longer climb it was clear that time trialling skills were going to be key for the day.
KM 0 was at the base of the first bicycle totem. Ossi Vuola immediately showed his strength by opening a gap. The rest of the pack rotated through and managed to mostly close the gap, but this was not to last as Vuola set a pace up the climb that rode all but Charles Le Gall off his wheel. The pack was spread in groups of one or two across a time spread of about a minute after the first climb.
There was some coalescing of groups over the rest of the lap, but the second climb shattered the pack for good. The rest of the race might be described as a “slogfest” as individual riders tried to make the best time possible around the course. Le Gall realized on lap 3 that a race after a 4 hours of training the previous day was probably not the ideal timing and hopped into the team car. Shortly thereafter, Jonathan Lemon had to pull out due to schedule constraints. This left the remaining four riders to finish their rides on their own.
As expected Vuola took the win with Christian Wiedmann and Alan Willey rounding out the podium.
Next week’s ride is posted on the Zwift Facebook homepage already. This should result in a record-sized field and hopefully mean that everybody will be able to find others to work with in a breakaway or chase group. See you then!
Results:
- Ossi Vuola 1:04:37
- Christian Wiedmann 0:03:46
- Alan Willey 0:07:36
- James Gill 0:09:21
DNF J. Lemon
DNF C. Le Gall
DNS F. Garcia (Mechanical - Ant+ Dongle Disintegration due to Foot Impact)
Not placed because I could not find the Strava activity: J. Dickerson