Stage 5 of the Tour de Zwift continued today and I rode the Group C route in Paris on the Champs – Elysees. It was a fast paced group with me staying with a few other Zwifters but in the 590 to 600 positions of nearby Zwifters. Near the end the nearby Zwifters showed over 800. The stage was 10.2 miles long with 299 feet of climbing. The lead-in was about 2 miles with each of the 2 laps at 4.1 miles. This was my second time on this course with the previous time on 2/11/2021. My Zwift riding so far this month totals 253.2 miles exceeding my road miles (225.3 miles). The weather is not cooperating with my road riding.

The YouTube videos are part 1 and part 2 due to my internet going offline during the live stream and then re-connecting.

I upped my gearing by 1 rear cassette cog after warming up during the lead-in. This improved my w/kg to almost 2 rather than in the 1.6 to 1.8 range. My legs really didn’t complain since the climbing was modest, mostly 1% to 3% over the stage. In Group C I finished at 323 in the Zwiftpower.com ranking out of 376. This looks realistic with the rider dots in the companion app on the course. Group A had 353 (not as many as I expected), Group B 660, and Group D did not have anyone. The nearby Zwifter count must’ve included riders from other than Group C.

I nabbed to person result medals in Strava: PR on Champs-Élysées Lead-In from Start Pens (5:47) and 2nd fastest time on Champs-Élysées (12:13). I show the RWGPS stage map and profile below because it shows more detail.