As they did in 2015 for the Richmond World Championships, Zwift have released a course based on this year’s road race in Innsbruck-Tirol.
The 24km circuit, ridden seven times in the men's race and three times in the women's, apes the route that will be tackled next month and includes the centerpiece 7.9km (5.9%) climb that dominates the parcours.
Iconic landmarks from the Tirol region are featured throughout the course. These include the Kufstein Castle, Ötztal Area 47 adventure park, the Old Town of Rattenberg and the Swarovski Crystal Worlds Giant and the Olympic Ski Jump in Innsbruck.
Zwift's new addition not only allows fans to train, virtually, on this year’s World Champs course, it gives the professional riders themselves a chance to preview it from their own living room.
“Typically the first time our riders would get to see the course would be when they arrive to race,” said Bradley McGee, Cycling Australia’s Technical Director. “Having the ability to train on the course in Zwift is going be a huge benefit this year not only from a tactical perspective, but it will serve as a huge confidence booster for the riders too.”
“Ensuring we could unveil the course in advance of the 2018 UCI Road World Championships taking place was extremely important.” says Eric Min, Zwift CEO and Co-Founder. “We have well over 200 professional riders on Zwift. These riders are always searching for new ways to achieve success, whether that be through different training techniques, better equipment or indeed, through intimate knowledge of a race course.”
Like Richmond, the course will continue to live on Zwift long after the championships have concluded in September this year.
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