Does Our Ranking System Have a Zwift Bias?

Blog #9

Image: Zwift Media Kit

When we launched our website in January, we had a simple goal: design a ranking system that could accurately rank riders based on their performances in “professional” virtual cycling races.¹

But as much as our methodology - or any methodology for ranking cyclists, really - shrouds itself in seemingly objective formulas and points values for different races, assigning those points values in the first instance is a hopelessly subjective endeavor. How much more valuable is a Tour de France GC win than a Vuelta GC win?² A Tour stage win vs. a UAE Tour GC win?³ Are all monuments created equal?⁴

There are no right answers to these questions. Nor are there right answers to how we value the races in the Pro E Cycling database. That’s why we originally launched the site in beta mode, so that we could solicit feedback from the community and adjust the ranking system accordingly.

That process is now complete, and you can view the finalized rankings on our site. But during the beta phase, there was one question that animated every piece of feedback we received: how do we value races on Zwift vs. races on MyWhoosh? Stated more bluntly: do we have a Zwift bias and undervalue MyWhoosh races?

This post explains the changes to the ranking system we made based on that feedback (if any - no spoilers!), all of which I must say was thoughtful, intelligent, and incredibly helpful.

I’m also experimenting with publishing this post for paid subscribers only. I don’t intend to do this too often, but for folks who are able to financially support the blog and site, there are some perks 😁

That being said, if you are not in a position to support Pro E Cycling financially, I definitely still want you to be able to access all our content. So for any free subscriber that shares the blog with a friend who signs up as well, I’ll comp you a free paid month to read this post!