Oh Yeah, Zwift World Series Still Exists
Blog #17
If a pro Zwift race falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
I suppose on Thursday we will find out.
Zwift World Series - Background
You might remember that, back in December, Zwift postponed the inaugural edition of the Zwift World Series after only three of the five planned stages due to a series of trainer malfunctions. In an email to riders on December 5, Zwift set the provisional dates for the final two stages for after Zwift Games on April 10 (Stage 4) and April 24 (Stage 5).
And then… silence. Complete silence. Not even a peep. I’ve been looking everywhere I can since Zwift Games ended for updates on ZWS. The official website, Googling, reaching out to Zwift (no response). But it’s been complete radio tower1 silence. As far as I can tell, the information available to the public about the ZWS restart as of this past weekend consisted of:
The December 14 Zwift Insider article publishing the December 5 email to riders, along with the “provisional” dates for the fourth and fifth stages; and
Well, nothing. That’s it! No public updates since then.2
I find this infuriating. We’re trying to grow a sport here, and as fans we don’t even know whether one of its premier events is even, like, you know, happening. Anyway - that’s a post for another time…
Zwift World Series Stage 4!
… because the real news here is that Stage 4 of the Zwift World Series is indeed happening this Thursday, April 10, at 1710 UTC (men) and 1840 (women).
Here is an excerpt of the March 28 email Zwift sent to elite racers:
Dear Zwift World Series Racers,
Following on from an awesome Zwift Games, we are now excited to get back to the Zwift World Series with the final two races of the season. You can remind yourself of where everything currently stands at https://www.zwiftworldseries.com/
As a reminder, the schedule for the upcoming races is:
Elite Race 4 - April 10th - Shisa Shakedown: Series Pass Racers + Qualified Racers from [Open Qualifier] 4
Elite Race 5 - April 24th - Power To The Tower: All eligible racers
For Elite Race 4 we have attached the Pre-Race Information, there are no changes to the format which was originally detailed in the race book however the new Rules & Regulations as were used in the Zwift Games will apply.
This all consistent with the provisional information and dates provided to riders in the December 5 email previously published by Zwift Insider. It would be nice if Zwift told fans the race was happening, but hey, I guess that’s what I’m for?
I’ll leave this post here for now - we’ve got a couple of upcoming collaborations I’ve got to get to work on, so I don’t want to ramble on for too long. But you can find the full standings heading into Stage 4 here. The top five3 for the men and women are:
Women
Kathrin Fuhrer (224 points)
Kristen Kulchinsky (217 points)
Mika Söderström (215 points)
Arielle Verhaaren (210 points)
Lisa Hermansson (201 points)
Men
Ollie Jones (212 points)
Jasper Paridaens (199 points)
Jo Pirotte (199 points)
Martin Maertens (193 points)
Maertens is still on the start list, even though he announced his retirement from professional cycling esports before Zwift Games while noting that the games would be his last hurrah. So I sort of doubt he will be racing. I published an ode to Maertens’ career last week, but I’d be quite happy if it was premature and he is back!
Riccardo Panizza (191 points)
POSTSCRIPT: As I went to publish this story, I noticed that Zwift has at some point since the weekend updated their YouTube page with the link for the race broadcast. You can watch it here!
Bad pun - get it? 😁
Indeed, Zwift’s own elite racing page still lists the old dates for the final two stages of ZWS.
Of course, these standings account for the controversial annulments of riders such as Kate McCarthy and Gabriela Guerra due to trainer malfunctions out of their control.