ZWIFT TOUR FOR ALL: STAGE TWO WINNERS

MEN’S STAGE 2 WINNER – MICHAEL GOGL (AUSTRIA) OF NTT PRO CYCLING

Can you give viewers an idea of what it’s like to stay motivated and then at the very end, sprint for that line as well?

As you said, the start is super hard. In the races in general, the guys told me before today’s stage that I should really focus on the start. I was a bit late with the warm-up today because you have to set up so many things – the webcam and everything – so I got in a bit in trouble and I think that’s why the start was even harder for me. In the first ten minutes, I thought ‘I’m super cooked’! I was actually happy to make the split and the first 14 guys at the start and then I could finally recover after that first big effort. We had great teamwork today too with Michael Valgren at the front in the last kilometre and unfortunately getting caught…

How do you try and replicate a scenario knowing you’ve got [Greg] Van Avermaet and [Matheiu] Van der Poel up with you? Do you get a sense of that or do you have to just focus on yourself?

You really have to focus on the steps at the side of the computer. I knew I had Michael [Valgren] in front on the road and I knew the guys have to react. Then you really have to watch - as soon as a guy starts to ramp it up, you see the red numbers lighting up and you also have to accelerate. This is what I did, and focussed on, in the final. In truth it’s actually quite a realistic race feeling. You know the other guys are also suffering and that’s what makes it kind of cool. 

How do you find the power-ups that go with Zwift?

Pretty cool actually. You have to use them wisely and it’s a cool technique.

Talking about tactics: it was a good day for NTT today and yesterday’s winner [Freddy Ovett] talked about using WhatsApp. Can you give us an insider in how you guys are communicating as you’re riding?

I have a few devices set up for that one race. With the team, we’re having a conference call during the whole race and half an hour before the race. We [also] have a chat bubble and there are coaches and directeur sportifs online and they give advice to use. We are really well guarded here and I’m really happy with what the team is doing for us during those races. It’s pretty professional, I’d say.

How are you finding this sort of training as a substitute [to outdoor cycling]?

We have to stay fit for when racing resumes outside but for the time being, I really appreciate the competition. I think in cycling, we can be happy we have these online races. It gives you the feeling of the competition and how to approach a race – I definitely think it’s a cool thing for us.

WOMEN’S STAGE 2 WINNER – ASHLEIGH MOOLMAN-PASIO (SOUTH AFRICA) OF CCC LIV

As the viewer, that is tiring to watch! We see at some points the gradient hitting 12% - can you explain to someone sitting on sofa what that’s like and how close it is to real life?

I must say, Zwift have done an incredible job of replicating the real world. They’ve really got the right balance between embracing the virtual world - with Watopia and the all power-ups – but then the real world courses like Richmond, which I’ve raced in real life, and they’ve replicated them really well. I’ve did race the World Championships in Richmond and I must say, hitting the cobbled climb and the gradients really does feel just as tough as it does in real life and it’s hard work! I was really just stamping, smashing the pedals trying to get the gap in the final five and it paid off.

Can you talk us through the set up you have and what’s in the room to help?

I live in Banyoles, which is about 25km outside of Girona, in the Girona province and am lucky enough to own a cycling tourism business together with my family. We live in an authentic, historical Catalan, masia [farmhouse]. My set-up is on the top floor in what would’ve been a barn space where they would’ve dried out grain, so I have a lot of space around me. I have my Tacx NEO smart trainer, I have a beautiful big screen TV and a massive fan to make sure I stay cool through the ride. But actually, in Spain at the moment it’s pretty hot so today I even had to have some ice in a big cooler box and had an ice sock down my back and every now and then I was getting a nice ice cold towel to put over my shoulders to help cool myself down. Luckily, I had some great support in the room so it really was a fun day.

How are you communicating with the team? In terms of trying to create a real race setting, how is it trying to replicate that? 

I’m lucky enough to have a fair amount of experience on Zwift. With the lockdown in Spain, I’ve been on Zwift for seven weeks now and then I’ve also had the opportunity to guest ride before during the Zwift Classic so I learnt a lot from my teammates, which obviously enabled me to advise my teammates as well, so we used the sport as a way of communicating. If anyone saw me live, I had my earphones in and we were talking to each other, which really helped. It’s the closet you’re going to get to a real world experience, like you would over the radio in a race. I’ve become quite accustomed to looking at my avatar and I could see when Marianne [Vos] was around me so it’s pretty close to the real world.

Have you had the time to think about your schedule going forward for the next few weeks and months?

I’m a real deal authentic Zwift convert. Before the lockdown, I wasn’t into indoor training at all – I had a bit of a mental block towards it. But I had been introduced to the Zwift platform before and I recognised that is was a pretty cool set-up but thought ‘Why would I ever need to use that? I live in the cycling paradise of Girona’. I never imagined myself spending so much time on the indoor trainer but when the lockdown hit, I decided I could make myself miserable and dwell on what I don’t have access to or I could embrace it and try to work on my weaknesses and make the most out of it.

I must say, [when asked] what advice I’d give to people using Zwift, I think the biggest thing was the community or the social aspect of it. That’s what really converted me in the beginning – going out and joining an event or joining a group and the ability to meet new people, people you might never have managed to meet before. You’re in Watopia and suddenly you’re chatting to someone in New York or in London. So that’s what really started to get me in to it. We were in isolation, but you had access to this great social platform. In the beginning, the intervals I had to do on Zwift were really hard and I was struggling but I kept trying to push through it and I suppose three weeks in, I started to see a big adjustment and my body was really adjusting to the indoor training and I started to feel I that was building strength.

So that obviously helped the motivation further as I realised, I was gaining something out of it. The reality is, when you train indoors, you’re relying more on brute force, on your torque or your power. In the real world, I’m more of a high cadence, typical climber type of rider so I knew force is a little bit of a weakness of mine, so I really embraced it and I just tried to work on it as much as I can - I then had some reassurance on a power test where I’d seen my power numbers go up. So, it’s just a continual realisation of the benefits of indoor training.

The first day when lockdown restrictions were lifted a bit, I did a pretty awesome time and it makes me realise there really is a place for both. Of course, I still love riding outdoors, I still love real life road racing, but I’ve found a lot of enjoyment on a platform like Zwift and even this type of racing I find really exciting.

The new UCI calendar has included a women’s Paris-Roubaix, I wondered if you’ve seen these plans in advance and if you could give us your reaction to that?

I didn’t know about the women’s Paris-Roubaix… Wow – it’s really awesome! There was always opportunity in challenging times like this but sometimes it takes shifting your mindset to be able to see the opportunity so I think today, with the new calendar being announced, there is opportunity for women’s cycling after the lockdown and it’s pretty awesome to hear that we will have a women’s Paris-Roubaix. The women’s peloton is definitely ready for it – we’re hungry to go and prove ourselves in a really tough race like Paris-Roubaix so I’m super excited. 

In terms of the calendar in general, I’ve managed to find my place in the lockdown and enjoyment in it, embracing Zwift racing. Today proved [to be] a great thing with my teammates on Zwift and talking about this. I get a real pump out of it and I really enjoy it but I’m really happy to hear that a calendar has been announced and there is hope we’ll be racing outdoors sometime towards the end of the year and I hope it does materialise.