No matter the system you will definitely have people not listen or understand. My 1-5 categories would be all for racing. So 1 would replace A, 2 B, 3 C, 4 D and then 5 would be a new class for racers below 1.5.
I know there are a lot of moving pieces with racing and appreciate all the efforts made to make racing better overall.
I think a lot of the confusion is whether it’s a group ride or race. I mean it’s definitely a group ride because that’s how it’s set up, but it’s also a race for the front 100 or so.
I might be able to set it up next year, but if we follow the same category breakdown (ie different routes) it doesn’t make sense unless you always ride/race the same category.
Wasn’t there a point in time where position wasn’t displayed? Can’t race if you don’t know where you are. 
Was that removed (replaced) again because people couldn’t say “hey, I’m at 400” when trying to meet up with companions?
I think having it there make more sense those that want to race can use it to see where they are and those that only want a ride can ignore it.
But if people want set categories then there is many many races every day.
Yeah, it doesn’t bother me. I thought Zwift put on actual races for TdZ in the past though. Maybe that was ToW, or maybe I’m imagining those ever existed. 
I’m sure some Tours have had official races in the past, but can’t recall specifics.
Perhaps for James’ benefit, we could have a single pen for those wishing to race rather than ride a Tour, mixing up stage lengths according to the short/medium/long routes being done by those not wishing to race.
All these “I won X stage of Tour De Zwift” group ride comments and alike make me chuckle!
That’s the only way it could work for a tour like this, but it depends on our appetite to do so internally.
I can pass it on but ultimately it creates a not insignificant amount of extra work for me. Yay.
Your workload could be helped a little by not running the monthly official Zwift race series and GC, like January’s “Flat Is Fast,” by scheduling Tours to run over complete months, using the Tour Of “X” races instead.
Tour de Zwift 2020 had separate races and rides, but I think that was the last time…
Edit: here’s a helpful quote from the post:
'What’s the difference between group ride and a race?
Group rides are like IRL fondos, with everyone going their chosen distance and riding with friends. Everyone can ride at their own pace. Races are more competitive–first over the line wins. Typically the courses are shorter to balance what will normally be a higher intensity effort."
Not sure why the races were eliminated.
Edit 2: Looks like 2O20 was the only year the tour de Zwift had official races.
It went back to being group ride in 2021; for a brief moment, they planned try to give a GC classification to those group rides after the fact but then found it was not feasible to do it that way.
Zwift Academy also used to have a required race (in 2020?) — I remember being so nervous and excited about participating in what I think was my first or second Zwift race (Cat D women’s race). I think having racing have as an official component of these big marquee events was a great way to get new people (like me at the time) to try racing and not feel like it was for a small, elite minority.
Here is a Zwift Insider link to a ZA Race for “Memory Lane Monday”
Flat is Fast is our highest ever performing monthly racing series so I’m okay with that.
My workload could also be helped by not turning on my laptop 