Zwift launches Crit City map exclusively for racing

Zwift has announced the release of a new map designed purely for racing.

Crit City is the eighth map to be launched by the online training platform and is designed, according to the brand, to deliver racing that is both fun to watch as well as fun to play.

As the name suggests, the new world is based on a criterium race course. It totals just 1.9km in length and gains close to just 8m in elevation.

According to Zwift it's designed to deliver flat out racing, with the course weaving its way through closely packed buildings, over cobblestones and around roundabouts.

Unlike Zwift's other maps such as Yorkshire or New York which are open to all, Crit City is an event-only map meaning it can only be experienced by joining an event on that course. As is the same with Zwift's other races, events can be found on the Zwift Event calendar online or in Zwift's Companion App.

Images of the new course show a characteristically artistic course, including a graffiti mural on the side of a building supposedly inspired by the landscape of Watopia.

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A big aim of Zwift's with the launch of the new map is to increase the popularity of online racing viewership. According to the brand, live racing broadcasts will include a few easter eggs on the map and the course's dead turns and parallel road sections should make for exciting racing.

“Criterium racing really is an artform, and I’m sure that racing this course will be no different" says Eric Min, Zwift CEO and Founder. "Knowing how to conserve energy and when to make your move is critical when racing for the win. I know that this is something that our racing community will love”.