For road cyclists, the month of July is synonymous with the most-celebrated race in the sport: the Tour de France. This year, the race has been postponed until August 29 because of the coronavirus pandemic, making this the first time the Tour has postponed or not held at all since World War II.
But you can still get your fix in the meantime with Zwift’s Virtual Tour de France, kicking off on July 4.
Zwift is hosting the virtual race in collaboration with race organizers, which will be broadcast to more than 130 countries. You’ll also be able to watch it live online here.
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“I cannot imagine the month of July without cycling,” Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour de France, said in the press release. “Thanks to the virtual Tour de France, which will be widely broadcast on TV, the champions and their fans will fill in the void left by the Tour de France, which will reunite with the public in Nice on 29 August.”
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Cyclists from 23 men’s pro teams and 17 women’s pro teams are set to race, including big names like Chris Froome, Marianne Vos, Geraint Thomas, Anna Van der Breggen, Egan Bernal, and Greg Van Avermaet.
The virtual race will be broken into six stages, each roughly one hour long, over the next three weekends. The men and women will race the same exact stages, on the same course over the same distance, at different scheduled times. This is a step in the right direction for women’s pro cycling, which has been seeking a fair and sustainable women’s equivalent of the Tour de France for decades. The women will open the event by racing Stage 1 first; additionally, they’ll also receive the same exact broadcast coverage as the men.
“The women’s field is slightly smaller as there are fewer WorldTour teams in existence,” a Zwift representative told Bicycling. “We hope that initiatives like this will help encourage growth within the women’s peloton.”
According to the Zwift representative, Tour de France organizer A.S.O. invited teams to participate; most are WorldTour level teams, and a few are Continental. Team sizes are limited to four riders for each stage, but the teams are allowed to rotate between different riders in order to better accommodate their training schedules.
The virtual race will award the same recognizable jerseys to the riders who win the general, mountain, sprint, and best young rider classifications. These will be awarded based on a points system.
Stages 1 and 2 will take place in Watopia, which will have some upgrades to better resemble the French town of Nice (this year’s Grand Départ). The other stages will take place in Zwift’s new France and Paris maps, created just for the occasion. Zwifters will be able to access those new worlds for themselves after the Virtual Tour de France has ended. Zwifters will also have the chance to ride the three of the same stages as the pros over the next three weekends, thanks to a virtual edition of the popular l’Etape du Tour. There will be 16 sessions held for each l’Etape du Tour stage.
The Virtual Tour de France will be raising money for six charities: Emmaüs, Secours Populaire, Jeugdfonds Sport and Cultuur, BiJeWa, and Qhubeka.
Virtual Tour de France Schedule
Stage 1: July 4, Nice, 36.4KM (4 x 9.1 km, hilly stage)
Stage 2: July 5, Nice, 29.5KM (682m of ascent, mountain stage)
Stage 3: July 11, Northeast France, 48KM (flat stage)
Stage 4: July 12, Southwest France, 45.8KM (2 x 22.9 km laps, hilly stage)
Stage 5: July 18, Mont Ventoux, 22.9KM (finish at Chalet-Reynard, mountain stage)
Stage 6: July 19, Paris Champs-Elysées, 42.8KM (6 laps)
Virtual l’Etape du Tour Schedule
Stage 2: July 4 and 5, Nice, 29.5KM (682m of ascent, mountain stage)
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Stage 4: July 11 and 12, Southwest France, 45.8KM (2 x 22.9KM laps, hilly stage)
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Stage 5: July 18 and 19, Mont Ventoux, 22.9KM (finish at the observatory)
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When she’s not out riding her mountain bike, Jessica is an editor for Popular Mechanics. She was previously an editor for Bicycling magazine.
