Zwift Racing League 2026/27

Racing
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Zwift Racing League 2026/27: Round 1 starts September 22

Zwift Racing League is back for another season of team racing, with Round 1 getting underway on September 22, 2026.

Whether you’re returning with your teammates or lining up for ZRL for the first time, this season brings four 6-week rounds of fast, tactical racing, new routes, a brand-new race format and more rewards along the way.

What’s new this season?

There’s plenty to look forward to in 2026/27:

  • Four 6-week rounds running from September through April.

  • New Race of Truth format – a mass-start, draftless points race that puts a new spin on team tactics.

  • New routes appearing throughout the season.

  • 250 XP for every completed lap, adding up to thousands of XP available across the season.

  • Exclusive unlocks, including participation rewards and the chance to earn the coveted winners’ jersey.

  • Smaller teams and more league options, making it easier to get a team together and find a race time that works for you.

Season dates

FRESH & FAST: SEPT 22 – OCT 27
TEAM TEMPO: NOV 17 – DEC 22
RACECRAFT RUSH: JAN 12 – FEB 16
FINAL CHARGE: MAR 2 – APR 6

New team sizes for 2026/27

More league options – teams can have up to 10 riders on their roster, with five racing each week. Leagues will feature up to 10 teams, helping create more divisions and a wider choice of race times.

New to ZRL? Start with Road to Zwift Racing League

Road to Zwift Racing League is a new introduction ride designed to show you what team racing is all about and help you get ready for the start line.

There’s no racing involved. You’ll ride with the group, learn what to expect from ZRL and find out how to take the next step towards joining or creating a team.

Road to Zwift Racing League rides will be available during registration periods between rounds, running hourly on Tuesdays.

Find your team

ZRL is all about racing together, so the first thing you’ll need is a team.

You can sign up as a Rider for Hire through WTRL, where teams looking for racers can find you. You can also browse teams recruiting riders on the WTRL Teams page, or post your details in the ZRL Facebook group.

Already have your crew? You can create your own team and choose the league and race time that works for you.

Getting started

There are a few simple steps to get ready for ZRL:

  • Get some racing under your belt. Complete a few races on Zwift to help establish your racing level and make sure you’re placed in the right ZRL league.

  • Sign up. Head to WTRL to get started and connect your Zwift account.

  • Join or create a team. Sign up as a Rider for Hire to find a team, or register your own with your crew and choose the league and Tuesday race time that works for you.

Then it’s time to show up for your teammates every Tuesday.

Fast, sweaty and addictive, ZRL combines teamwork, tactics and competition with the kind of Type 2 Fun that keeps you coming back for more.

RACING: Round 1 starts September 22.
REGISTRATION: Now open

Team up. Show up. Race together.

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So all races will effectively be mass start TTs with drafting turned off, or just one race?

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Only race 1. The rest are the usual scratch, points, and TTT.

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It’s only the first race.

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Not participating this year due to my current lead schedule; but,

  • I hope the Rider For Hire works, it’s basically been a request since the beginning. I’ve personally never felt like ZRL was ever much of a team race when compared to other series… so happy to see motion on that side.

  • This is a good reminder to remove myself from that dark forum of neverending complaints from W.C. on facebook.

  • I still think steering is a mistake, and the people without working steering will realize it very fast, and the complaints will reach far and wide, and people will bail when they either don’t have steering, or their Play controllers finally gave up the steering ghost like so many of them do, and don’t see people going out and buying Cog&Click just to race ZRL.

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We felt that due to the number of steering devices in game (it’s 6 figures) that your anticipated end of world scenario is unlikely to be the case but we (Zwift and WTRL) will monitor for feedback.

2 Likes
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Yeah but those numbers don’t track whether they still work anymore or not…

Not calling it end of the world, just saying I still think the decision is going to add additional frustration with enforced hardware that’s known to break down.

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Can community run series get all the 250XP awards too? Like ECRO, DRS, etc…?

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No, it’s an incentive to take part in ZRL.

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Isnt it already “the largest race series on Zwift”? Does it need an incentive? You should make that available to the community run series to help promote them, ZRL doesn’t need any help.

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Is there a steering setup that works with flat MTB bars?

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Elite Sterzo and other similar devices.

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Zwift Blip controls, guess the Tacx alpine could? If you have a Tacx.

Not sure what else remains available on the market.

Looks like Sterzo can still be purchased as well.

But the list is most certainly getting smaller year after year.

It’s just not thoroughly supported hardware, and I will never understand the push for it onto the userbase for their “biggest racing event”.

Folks will realize this real fast when the sprint segments and sprint finishes come, that they’re being “forced” to play a game they can’t win without purchasing more hardware.

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Oh I see, the Sterzo device sits on the floor. I looked at it, but since it does not take into account head angle, it may not work well at max angles?

I was thinking the Zwift play was a lever you had to push, but I don’t see them in their store anymore? I was thinking of getting something to take apart and make my own mechanics for attaching it to the frame/handlebars to detect steering.

But it looks like the Zwift steering now is based on tilting a phone attached to the handlebars, does this work well?

Are any of you using steering devices? What is the most popular or accurate?

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it called the click 2 now days. Lever ones are now Very dead now. @glenn_LunarBikes

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The v2 is not sold separately, only an upgrade kit. If you select ‘other’ it says ‘looks like your model is not compatible’ and to contact Zwift?

The main reason for wanting steering is that a few months ago I did a month long race challenge and on the last event they required steering, so I was not able to finish the challenge. I would have thought there would be lots of options if they are making it mandatory.

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People are paying money to ECRO outside of Zwift so I assume they are already motivated

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@Mike_Rowe1 2nd biggest , ZMonthly is bigger the ones at 10 min pass the hour*

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Now that ZRL and other tours/competition, requiere you to use a Smartrainer as power source, will be any chance to show on game who is still using powermeter vs smartrainer? Just an icon would be great. Would be nice to improve the fairness.

I understand that the ZRL rules are somekind more complex: if you use a good smartrainer you are forced to use it, if your smartrainer is dubious (+ - 2%) you can still use your powermeter and pedals.

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What benefit would that bring for you or anyone else?