Overview

The first race of the Zwift classics are quickly approaching. I will be posting a route recon every week for the upcoming Zwift Classics stage. This week is the Apple Lap in New York.

The Course

On this course, riders will race 2 laps of Astoria Line 8, a total of 23km. The race is a rolling course as it is in New York. The route will stay in the park area of the map, it will not go onto the glass roads.

At the start of the loop that heads north, riders will head up a moderately steep climb, with an average of around a 5% gradient. If you are a heavier rider, supertucking is a great way to get some recovery on this short punchy course. For lighter riders, it is risky because the descents are fast steep descents.

The course does include a sprint, but it will likely just be ignored during the classics race because there are no prime points. Take this as a time to get rid of your power up if it isn’t ideal for the sprint. It is the only power up opportunity until the finish.

One of the most crucial parts of the route is having good positioning in the finishing sprint. The finishing sprint will be a slight descent for the first bit of the sprint, but will then be a steep finish up to the lap banner.

Bike Choice

The best bike choice for this route will be either the Tron or the Venge with the DT Swiss disc wheelset. There is not much difference between the two, and choosing a lightweight bike will not make much of a difference on the uphill finish, so Aero/All-arounder rules this course.

Time estimates

Note that these are just rough estimates of the times, as the times will ultimately depend on pack size and how competitive the group is.

A: 31 Minutes

B: 33 Minutes

C: 36 Minutes

D: 39-40 Minutes