Another tricky stage for the punchers as we will be racing on Yorkshire 2019 UCI Worlds Harrogate Circuit. Do you still remember the arduous conditions elite pro’s had to endure during this year’s world champs?
This course is one of the most dynamic courses available within Zwift platform. If New York’s central park is dynamic with the “waving” course, and if you would ask a physicist to compare with Yorkshire, he would answer “similar, but with lower frequency and much higher amplitude of wave’s.”
While New York’s central park is still classified as flat, Harrogate Circuit is hilly. There is no long and hard climb, but you are actually either climbing or descending on much of the Lap. The main and the hardest climb of the lap is 1.2km long, with @6%. For the strongest A riders it is a ~2min effort @7-8w/kg, which is the matter of pure anaerobic capacity. For a little less capable B rider, climbing @~6w/kg it will take 2min30-3min, which can’t be covered any more via predominantly anaerobic metabolism, and for most C riders it will take 3-4min of climbing, which is quite a difference. While among A group a capable and smart sprinter could survive the hill, especially if punchers wouldn’t do their “tear down” work, it is less and less likely for B and C groups, simply because the climb for them is longer.
The last kilometer to the finish line is special too. It suits perfectly to light framed fast finishers since the last 600m is slightly uphill. Exactly 600m to go, there is a 10% ~100m long bumper which effectively reduces speed and most importantly puts pure sprinters under the pressure if someone goes pan-flat-all-out right from the beginning. And even after the bump, road still rises slightly at 1-2%, which means a bit lower speeds and a bit less draft behind the wheels making sprint so much harder. Entire 600m stretch takes at least 50sec of sprinting and that’s just on the limit of any. Those with the highest anaerobic capacity usually excel here.
Category 
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will do 3 laps, 41.4 km altogether with 720 m of ascent.
Category 
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will do 2 laps, 27.6 km altogether with 480 m of ascent.
There are two slots available and remember; you can do either one or both, your best result will count towards general points classification.
Click on the day that fits your schedule for a link to Zwift event signup page. Saturday at 15.05 CET (3 PM CET) / 2 PM BST / 9 AM EDT / 6 AM PDT / 11 PM AEST / 2 AM NZDT
Sunday at 10.30 CET (10.30 AM CET) / 9.30 AM BST / 5.30 AM EDT / 1.30 AM PDT / 7.30 PM AEST / 9.30 PM NZDT
Here is the VeloViewer 3D map of the course.
Have you ridden the course before? The easiest way is to check the segment in your Strava account.