GCN's Zwift Games: Who is the fastest presenter?

The inaugural Zwift Games is just around the corner and promises to be one of the biggest esports cycling competitions of the year. Starting on 1 March this is an event that’s not just about elite competitors it’s also open to riders of all abilities via the community series. As a little taster of what’s to come our presenting team from across our GCN channels have taken part in our own condensed version of the Games, vying to be crowned GCN World Champion.

Before we explain the format of our challenge let's take a quick look at what the main Zwift Games are all about.

How do the Zwift Games work?

© Zwift

Competitive virtual cycling is about to get underway with the inaugural Zwift Games

This breaks down into two formats - elite level racing and community racing. The Elite Zwift Games will see the world’s top virtual racers compete across three medal disciplines of Sprint, Epic and Climb in a bid to be crowned the overall champion.

Races for both the men's and women's categories are held over consecutive weekends from 2 March - 17 March with a winner's prize of $10,000 and rather flash gold-painted Wahoo KICKR bike up for grabs.

• Read more: Zwift release further details ahead of inaugural Zwift Games

The community series is a 5-stage race that takes place across similar dates as the elites. Community races begin on 1 March and progress through each of the five stages until 17 March, offering five special in-game unlocks for each of the five stages. Four of the five stages will take place across new Watopia courses that have been specially designed for the Games – you can read more on those here.

Make-up events for each stage are then available between 18 - 31 March which offer the opportunity for riders to better their existing times during that window. In-game Registration is live now while online registration opens on Monday 26 Feb.

GCN's version of the Zwift Games

Our version of the games is slightly different to the official Zwift Games. We have a punishing schedule that features the three race categories back-to-back on the same day. Points are available depending on finishing position in each of the individual disciplines and then totalled up to reveal our overall winner. Here’s how it all breaks down:

First up is the Sprint, which takes on a 6.2km route around the Glasgow Crit circuit. We’re expecting big things from Alex Paton here but will the competition be like from the International guys? Then it’s on to the Epic, which follows a 24km route around Watopia’s Coastal Causeway which is a new route specifically designed for the Games. Could this be one that sees the triathlete contingent come to the fore? To finish, riders must tackle the Climb, up another new course, Mountain Mash. Our presenters are tackling the 5.9km long route that features 335 metres of elevation gain. Who’s your money on for that one and how will it affect the overall rankings?

In order to answer that question, you need to know exactly who is taking part. We've got representatives from all our GCN channels and we even allowed our triathlete friends from GTN to take on the challenge.

© GCN

All our GCN channels were represented in our version of the Zwift Games – but who came out on top?

GCN: Si Richardson, Conor Dunne, Hank

GCN Tech: Ollie Bridgewood, Alex Paton

GCN Italia: Alan Marangoni, Giorgio Brambilla

GCN auf Deutsch: Toby Knaup

GCN Español: Sebas Haedo

GCN en Français: Maxime Prieur

GTN: Mark Threllfall and James Cunnama

There’s a real mix of skills, age and experience between our presenters but who will come out on top? Watch the video above to find out. And let us know whether you’ll be signing up for this year’s Zwift Games.

To find out more about riding on Zwift and loads of tips around Indoor Training in general check out our dedicated section here.

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