Team Ineos riders set for Zwift race re-match this weekend
Can Rohan Dennis defend his title in the second Team Ineos virtual race?
It’s no secret Team Ineos has one of the strongest rosters in the pro peloton, but who would you choose as the fastest?
Earlier this year, the British WorldTour team hosted a unique virtual race that pitted their strongest riders against each other on Zwift.
Utilising his time trialling class, Rohan Dennis rode to a pretty emphatic victory, finishing 56 seconds ahead of Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar.
But who will come out victorious in the sequel?
Team Ineos have now confirmed their second Zwift eRace Classic will be held on Saturday (June 6), as their riders take on a virtual recreation of the Yorkshire World Championships course.
The race will be broadcast on the Team Ineos Facebook page and YoutTube channels from 5pm British time, with commentators Rob Hatch and Matt Stephens taking you through the action.
Team Ineos have yet to announce the full start-list for the event, but the previous race featured all the big names including Grand Tour winners Chris Froome, Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas.
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But it was world TT champion Dennis who took the honours, averaging 373 watts for the 58-minute effort.
Dunbar actually put in an even bigger effort when measuring his watts per kilogram, averaging 5.38 w/kg for 58-57, but just wasn’t able to match his team-mates power output as he held 312w for the duration.
Dennis had an average heart-rate of 157 beats per minute, compared with Dunbar’s 165bpm.
Poland’s Michał Kwiatkowski rounded out the podium in the first race of its kind, finishing 59 seconds behind the winner.
After beating his team-mates, Dennis said: “There was supposed to be a plan, but in the end I felt it was better to just go for it, why not? It worked out!
“It was a good little hit out, I spotted Cam (Wurf) with me and I couldn’t let him sit on my wheel for too long, so I pushed a bit harder and dropped him, then I could sit on my TT pace from there.
“It’s a time when nobody is allowed to ride with anybody so we’re lucky to have technology like this so we can do something for the fans to keep them across what we’re doing and how we’re training.”
>>> Annemiek van Vleuten fires out 400km in one ride
More details of the second race are set to be released soon.
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Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers. Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
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