Freddy Ovett Wins the Zwift Games Climb Championship and Wahoo Overall Classification
The biggest cycling esports stars turned out for the final stage of the Zwift Games elite championships. UCI WorldTour Pros joined the pack and hit the startline as the pace was breakneck from the start.
The jungle flew by and within a few minutes the race went skyward, to the summit of the Alpe du Zwift. 12.2 kilometres, with an elevation Gain: 1036 m and an average gradient of 8.5%, a Zwift replica of the real life Alpe d’Huez.
The front group contained all of the big hitters. Josh Harris, the Wahoo Overall classification leader heading into the race, head to toe in the gold Leader’s kit sat at the back, pacing and measuring his efforts.
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Johan Norén and Thomas Perren made repeated digs, stretching the front group out along the road between the hairpins. Jason Osborne suffered a mechanical and dropped from the front group, that would be the last he’d feature at the front of the race. Lennart Teugels sat on the front, making it difficult for the riders behind as the group lost a few more riders. Ovett was always there though, never on the front, but never near the back.
The live Wahoo Overall Classification leaderboard showed Thomas Thrall in contest for the win, as Josh Harris slowly slipped down the rankings.
As the hairpins went by, the pace continued at a ridiculously high level.
A group of five emerged with five kilometres to go; Perren, Ovett, Teugels, Lennart Jasch and Mickael Plantureux.
It became clear no riders would be able to bridge back to the front, our winner would come from this group.
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Just before the Flamme Rouge, Plantereux dropped off the back and we were down to four. Ovett was at the back, Jasch made the first move at over 10 watts per kilo from a long way out. Teugels kicked, and finally, so did Ovett.
Ovett crossed the line, arms raised, claiming the Climb race win and the Wahoo Overall classification by a handful of points. It was a momentous achievement given the calibre of riders in the race. Teugels finished in second, with Perren in third.
In the post race interview Ovett revealed he was racing without the Zwift HUD, choosing instead to focus purely on the in-game visuals to guide his race tactics.
Ovett claims $10,000 for the Wahoo Overall Classification, $7,000 for the Climb race win, a unique Gold Wahoo KICKR Bike, and of course, the gold Concept Z1 bike in game.
