Woods lays down marker on Zwift Mont Ventoux

Solo win on virtual Tour summit finish shows Canadian’s return to form, writes Vern Pitt

- Vern Pitt

Michael Woods fired a warning shot across the bows of his rivals for the hilly Classics this season, producing huge power numbers on Mont Ventoux at the virtual Tour de France.

The overall competition was won by rival team NTT but it was Woods’s stage win that marked him out as perhaps the top contender for the race for Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia just a few short months after a career-threatening leg break.

Woods dropped all his rivals to win solo atop the virtual mountain in the first race where it has featured in Zwift.

To do so, he rode at a highly impressive 6.65 watts per kilogram for 20 minutes. In the early part of the climb he was riding at 7.03W/kg. Domenico Pozzovivo, who finished second, sustained an even higher power-to-weight ratio, averaging 7.9W/kg. However, it seems Woods’s affinity with the game gave him the edge he needed to cross the line first.