Just jumping in here at the end of a long day and will try and answer some of the questions raised above. Disclaimer: I work for Zwift and have been working on the development of this race series for several weeks now.
The concept was simple. Create a regular weekly race series and invite all the pro triathletes on Zwift, and there are more than 200 of them, to come together and race for 'fun'. They had been asking us to do something so we thought - let's keep it simple - there was no pressure at all put on our pro community to race and we had very little idea until the start of the race who would actually turn up.
This week we chose a short, punchy course to try to suit the strong, powerful riders. We'll mix it up each week, do some long races (but only broadcast the last half hour), some big climbs and some non drafting TT style races.
Above all though, we want the pros themselves to shape this series. We appreciate getting the best short AND long course athletes to race each other every week could only happen as a result of the current situation so need it to be something they want to do, not feel they need to do.
We decided to let the athletes self police and have not been too prescriptive about verification of data or weights but we'll gather feedback and that may change as the series progresses (if the pros want it to change).
We want them to have fun and us to have fun watching them having fun.
I'll try and check in occasionally to update you on any developments, in the meantime, thanks for watching!
Richard Melik | I work for the following companies | Zwift.com | Freespeed Bike Fit (UK)
Manager | David McNamee
