Matteo Dal-Cin (Rally Cycling), a true Zwift enthusiast, has won stage 3 of the Virtual Tour de France as he outsprinted Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) on Saturday. NTT Pro Cycling Team maintain the overall lead thanks to Ryan Gibbons (5th) and Rasmus Tiller (6th). Earlier in the afternoon, another Zwift expert dominated the women’s race: Tanja Erath (Canyon//Sram Racing), winner of the 2017 Zwift Academy, outsprinted the time-trial World champion Chloe Dygert (Twenty20). Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank maintains the overall lead ahead of Canyon//Sram Racing.
From Zipaquira, Colombian home of the 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal (Ineos), to Italy, where NTT Pro Cycling riders set their home-trainers side by side, passing by the Netherlands of the leader of the UCI World ranking leader Lorena Wiebes (Sunweb), 156 riders (64 women and 92 men) participate in stage 3 of the Virtual Tour de France on Saturday. They face two laps of a 24km circuit and offer two thrilling races as part of the solidarity events aiming to raise funds for charity partners
The young British rider April Tacey (Drops Cycling Team) comes back at it a week after her victory in stage 1. She quickly displays her ambitions, pushing above 600 watts in the first intermediate sprint and the first QOM of the day. Her heartrate gets as high as 212 beats per minute during these massive efforts! Poland’s Marta Lach (CCC-Liv) edges her on the second sprint of the day.
About 30 riders are still at the front for the last lap, with CCC-Liv and Drops Cycling Team maintaining a high pressure at the front. With a fast finish lining up after 1 hour of intense racing, Tanja Erath (Canyon//Sram Racing), winner of the 2017 Zwift Academy, musters her experience on the platform to dominate the time-trial World champion Chloe Dygert (Twenty20) and April Tacey in the final sprint.
Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank maintain the overall leadership with 197 points but Canyon//Sram Racing move closer : 174 points. And Drops Cycling is also in the mix with 150 points.
Dal-Cin's skills and NTT's collective efforts
With the support of a proper staff in their team’s headquarters in Lucca (Italy), riders from NTT Pro Cycling are very aggressive from the start of the stage. Alpecin Fenix riders still manage to dominate the climbs, as Alexander Krieger takes the first KOM and Jimmy Janssens the seconds.
A pack of 39 riders tackle the final 5km bunched despite a late attempt from Alex Kirsch (Trek-Segafredo). Thanks to his personal experience on Zwift, the Canadian rider Matteo Dal-Cin (Rally Cycling) uses his aero power-up at the perfect moment, with 300m to go, and finds an opening to snatch the victory just ahead of Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ).
NTT Pro Cycling Team still lead the overall standings thanks to their collective performances (5th place for Ryan Gibbons and 6th for Rasmus Tiller). They have 193 points while Rally Cycling follow with 156. Trek-Segafredo are 3rd with 127 points.
The 4th stage, on Sunday, offers more climbing challenges to suit the most explosive riders.
How to power-up to victory
Tanja Erath and Matteo Dal-Cin made the most of their power-ups to claim victory thanks to their experience on Zwift. The aero power-up they used in the final sprint made them more aerodynamics for 15 seconds. The other power-ups available can improve a rider’s drafting, make him undraftable, reduce his weight or make him invisible.
