With the Tour done and dusted, it’s time to start looking forward to other racing – like the UCI World Championships. While the actual event will be held in the Innsbruck-Tirol region this September, you can get a head start on the action right now on Zwift.
Based on the 24km Olympic Lap, pros in real life will loop around 7 times for the men’s race and 3 times for the women’s. But if you want to only lap around once on Zwift, that’s fine too. Intended to give pro racers a chance to familiarize themselves with the course ahead of time, the actual Zwift course is designed to be as lifelike as possible, including the 7.9km climb with a average gradient of 5.9%. It’s certainly a stout climb, but nothing like the recently launched Alpe du Zwift.
Virtual riders will have the chance to ride past real landmarks like the Kufstein Castle, Ötztal Area 47 adventure park, the Old Town of Rattenberg, the Swarovski
Crystal Worlds Giant, and the Olympic Ski Jump in Innsbruck.
Even if your training plans don’t include any trainer time before the World Championships arrive, you’ll still be able to ride the course later this year. Also, if you happen to find yourself in Austria for the real thing, Zwift will have a pop up shop with demo stations, coffee, food, and more.
The course is available to ride now, and Zwift will be having a few group rides to celebrate tomorrow!
THE ROUTES
- UCI Worlds Short Lap: The primary loop of the 2018 UCI Road World Championships race. 14.7 miles // 23.7 km long, Ride up and over the challenging climbs to Igls and then finish on a fast and flat circuit through downtown Innsbruck. Total elevation gain of 1622 ft // 494 m.
- Achterbahn: That’s German for rollercoaster, and aptly named. Hit the KOM and sprint in both directions. Start with a reverse ascent of the Igls climb before looping back into town and then climbing up to Igls again in the forward direction. This route covers 29.4 mi // 47.4 km with 3244 ft // 988 m of climbing.
- Innsbruckring: A racer’s playground, this flat and fast route traverses the interior around Innsbruck for as many laps as you can handle. One lap is 5.5 mi // 8.8 km with an easy 252 ft // 77 m of elevation.
- Lutscher: Grab a pastry in town then head for the mountains on this “lollipop” route of 15 mi // 24.2 km with 2715 ft // 827 m of climbing. Ride and you’ll complete repeated clockwise loops of the 2018 UCI Course’s primary climb.
- Lutscher CCW: Same as the regular Lutscher route, only climbing the steeper backside of the Igls climb. Expect 13.7 mi // 22.1 km and 2709 ft // 826 m of climbing.
