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2021 Haute Route Watopia coverHaute Route Watopia challenge kicks off this Friday on Zwift
The second edition of the Haute Route Watopia is kicking off this Friday, 28th February, with three days of racing. Competitors will cover 149.9km and tackle 3,783m of climbing on the Zwift virtual cycling platform.
The first edition of the virtual event took place in April 2020 and saw 69,000 cyclists from 20 different countries signing up to participate.
“Despite it being a virtual event, Haute Route Watopia contains all the elements which the Haute Route cycling races have become famous for: a challenging course, a number of climbs, as well as a route through exceptional and iconic destinations, with Zwift having customised the roads of Watopia, the platform's virtual volcanic island, especially for the occasion,” says the organisers.
“On the day before each stage of the race, a briefing will be given to the riders on Instagram, led by Fergus Grant – the official spokesperson for the Haute Route – who will give all the information and advice required to make the race a success.”
Nutritional tips will also be provided by Haute Route’s partner OTE Sports.
Let’s take a look at what is in store for the competitors this year…
Friday 26 Feb, Stage 1: Mega Pretzel route, 51km, 800m elevation gain - ends at the top of the KOM volcano
Saturday 27 Feb, Stage 2: Pretzel route, 53km, 1300m elevation gain – ends at the top of the Epic KOM Reverse
Sunday 28 Feb, Stage 3: Quatch Quest route, 45.9km, 1683m – ends at the top of Alpe du Zwift
All participants will receive a virtual Colnago bike and a new virtual jersey from Le Col.
The Haute Route celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and as well as this virtual event to kick off the year, promises six “real-life” 3-7-day events, around the world in 2021.
Anna has been hooked on bikes ever since her youthful beginnings at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit. As an avid road and track racer, she reached the heady heights of a ProCyclingStats profile before leaving for university. Having now completed an MA in Multimedia Journalism, she’s hoping to add some (more successful) results. Although her greatest wish is for the broader acceptance of wearing funky cycling socks over the top of leg warmers.
Latest Comments
- mdavidford 12 min 52 sec ago
Can't believe anyone would get confused over them. I mean, the Sainz were all there...
- Scot 32 min 10 sec ago
I was the support rider with paddy and we did have 3 other Raleigh Choppers as back-up including a 5-speed and different gears to swap out. The 5...
- brooksby 45 min 28 sec ago
Well, surely that's obvious, isn't it? Their objections were nothing at all to do with 'protecting nature' - that was just a fig leaf to cover the...
- hawkinspeter 51 min 34 sec ago
Garmin can refuse to transfer data to Strava, but they can't stop you doing so (unless they use a proprietary format that can't be processed easily...
- mdavidford 1 hour 2 min ago
I'm not really clear the relevance of plastering tips in this context.
- brooksby 1 hour 14 min ago
https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/car-left-balancing-on-......
- zweiblumen 1 hour 52 min ago
I do try not to jump on the bandwagon, but this is ludicrous. The problem that they identify is illegally modified bikes: how can banning legal...
- anke2 1 hour 53 min ago
Sure. Like it's interesting to wonder about the driving for driving (track-days), driving for playing golf, driving for a ramble, driving for a pub...
- Jogle 2 hours 18 min ago
And a couple of small plastic bollards will stop the lorries going anywhere near the bridge. ...
- Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells 2 hours 20 min ago
Or completely give up.... and buy a emtb, which will break within 12 months, so you can lounge on the sofa guilt free 👍
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8 comments
Want to ride this, but also want to ride outside for a change now the weather is good, and also this is not going to help to me clear off the last 6 zwift routes that I haven't ridden.
I was curious what the rewards are, from what I can see you ride the bike when doing the stages but don't keep it and you get the kit if you do all three stages.
Thats my understanding too. the article is wrong in this respect.
Dumb question but I can't seem to find an answer on Zwift. I'd like to ride this but I've not ridden in a group or an event on Zwift before - I've signed up for the three stages but how exactly do I join the session?
Is it just a case of logging into Zwift a few minutes before the start or do I need to do anything else?
Not a dumb question at all, you log into Zwift and start a course then when it's near the event start time you'll get a pop-up in game (on the PC it's on the bottom left) giving you the option to go to the event. When you click that you'll be taken to the race starting area with a timer ticking down and you can chat to the other people then when the timer hits 0 the barrier is dropped and the race starts.
I'd recommend giving yourself plenty of time before the race starts to ensure Zwift is working and all your sensors are good. I've lost out on a few races because Zwift needed a restart and was taking its sweet time or it was ignoring my power meter. There's lots of races every day on Zwift so it's well worth entering one just to see the process so you're ready for this race.
I'm not a racing person normally but been doing a few events on Zwift and generally finding them quite fun and gives a new challenge, it pushes me a bit harder than I would normally ride.
As Johnsays log in at least 5 minutes before, maybe 10, start riding any route it doesn't even need to be in the same world.
Then there will be a message to go your your immenent event.
Thanks John & Wycombe - very helpful and much appreciated.
One thing that you do have to do is enter each stage at your chosen time ( which you may have done, but I'm not sure if you've just registered for the overall event). Haute Route seems to be running every hour on the hour. If you have the phone companion app you can easily find the time you want and select, or do it via the main app from the events menu.
If you start warming up beforehand the system will then invite you to join your event, from about half an hour before.