Rally Cycling announced on Monday that they were among the 23 men’s and 16 women’s teams invited to participate in the Virtual Tour de France in July.
The race, which is scheduled to take place at Zwift over the weekend from July 4th to 19th, comprises six stages for men and women on four new routes specially developed for the race, including a simulation of the Mont Ventoux according to Chalet-Reynard and the Champs-Elysées race track in Paris.
Rally cycling has been featured in many top-class virtual races since the coronavirus pandemic brought all real races to a standstill and contested the Digital Swiss 5, the Women’s Tour V-Series 2020, and the Zwift Tour for All.
The men’s team boss, Pat McCarty, chose a balanced nine-man team to swap the race in the new format. The ProTeam competes against top riders like Chris Froome, Greg Van Avermaet, Mathieu van der Poel and Marianne Vos.
“We chose the list of men based on past experiences with virtual races and those best suited to make an impact on the upcoming virtual tour,” said McCarty. “We know that you don’t need a large squad to get a result in e-racing, so the best strategy is to pick a few people that we know can do well and only a few To let e-races concentrate. ” for us.
“With the Zwift Tour for All, we saw that some of our younger drivers, who are more familiar with the platform, did well. It takes a lot of strategy to know the routes (knowing when the resistance starts and in which Being close to the front)) knowing how to minimize the effort within the design and how and when to use your power-ups.
“For example, our young sprinter Pier-André Coté finished fifth in the first stage of the Zwift Tour for All, despite having the lowest average watts per kilo of drivers in the front group. That makes his ability to interact with the platform , really clear. ” while maintaining an effort. “
For the women, director Zach Bell helped his drivers master the intricacies of racing on Zwift, such as: B. Drawing, power-ups and what kind of effort can be expected.
“We have learned that knowing and understanding the intricacies of the platform makes a big difference at Zwift,” said Bell. “It is a completely unforgiving form of racing where drivers have to drive at or over the threshold almost constantly. The drivers on our list will be able to manage their efforts at an extremely high work rate and we believe that this will lead to the best possible result for. ” The team.
“The drivers have to be tough and have to suffer a lot from start to finish. Hiding and floating as in normal racing is not the same at Zwift. You have to be able to think about your next move and always have pressure on it Pedals: Hard riders who thrive at the limit are the riders who do well week after week. These features, combined with good strength to weight numbers over long stretches, help a rider make the final selection consistently. “
Rally cycling for the Virtual Tour de France
Men: Stephen Bassett, Rob Britton, Nate Brown, Pier-André Coté, Matteo Dal-Cin, Gavin Mannion, John Murphy, Kyle Murphy and Nickolas Zukowsky
Women: Sara Bergen, Allsion Beveridge, Krista Doebel-Hickok, Heidi Franz, Leigh Ann Ganzar, Megan Jastrab, Sara Poidevin, Emma White and Lily Williams
