Tour de Zwift Stage 6 went live this morning and I rode. The Group B ride was longer than I had time for so I chose the Group C route, Douce France. First time on this route. One lap went 15.17 miles and 436 feet of climbing. In the Zwift companion app it listed the ride as 15.4 miles and 448 feet of climbing. No lead-in so I’m not sure of why the distance doesn’t match. A good turn out according to the tally at the start over 1200 and increasing to 1259 by the finish. Four small climbs and then a bigger one but nothing over 5% to 6%. Of the 1259 Zwifters I rode in the 970 to 990 range. I would call the route flat to rolling hills. I used the Specialized Tarmac from my garage since the course was on roads, dirt or gravel. The pace was fast with my 21.2 average mph completing the stage in 42:53.

When I uploaded the TCX file into SportTracks it showed the location as South Province, Caledonia. Not near France.

I looked the route description up before riding at ZwiftInsider.com. What I found, “Literally “sweet France”, this route covers the upper loop of Zwift’s France map which was created for the first-ever Virtual Tour de France. It runs in a counter-clockwise direction, which means it’s just a reverse version of the R.G.V. route.” I rode the R.G.V. route earlier this month but riding it reverse the scenery changes.

Checking in at ZwiftPower.com on how I stacked up in Group C I was 577 out of 675. Overall Group A shows 12 (surprisingly low), Group B 455, and Group D (women only) 8. A total of 1,150. Not sure where the 1259 number comes from. It might include all Zwifters on the route but not necessarily in the Tour de Zwift. Also not everyone registers at Zwiftpower.com.

I recorded three personal medals in Strava during the ride: PR on Marina Sprint (38s), PR on Pavé Sprint (35s), 2nd fastest time on Aqueduc KOM (58s). Only 3 sprints today versus the many yesterday.