Cycling news - Greg Van Avermaet headlines Zwift 'Tour for All' Stage 2

Both men's and women's racing will be screened each day between 1400 and 1600 BST with some of the best cycling teams in the world, including Mitchelton-Scott, EF-Education, NTT, Alpecin-Fenix, Bahrain-McLaren, Canyon//SRAM Racing, CCC-Liv and Boels Dolmans competing for race honours. Teams and the top 25 riders will gain points across the week alongside a daily individual race winner. There will also be intermediate points on each stage and double points for the Top 10 on the Queen Stage (Stage 5).

Stages will range in distance from approximately 45km to 75km, and approximately 400m and 1700m in elevation, with race times estimated to be between 1hr 15min and 2hr, depending on the distance and elevation of each stage. Results will be points based and determined by the team’s performance and results for each stage.

Israel Start-Up Nation's Freddy Ovett and CCC Liv's Marianne Vos won the men's and women's opening stage of yesterday's Innsbruckiring route, with Canyon SRAM and Israel Start-Up National the early pacesetters in the team standings.

The Tour for All professional racing series will open a month-long charity fundraising initiative that will see Zwift donate a total of $125,000 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its COVID-19 crisis fund. An additional $125,000 can be unlocked once 250,000 people complete a stage of the Tour for All. The professional racing series is designed to showcase the mass-participation stages and encourage Zwifters to take part by riding some of the same courses that the pros have raced.

Men's Stage 1 winner Freddy Ovett of Israel Start-Up Nation: "I’ve done this race before on Zwift and I knew that being a climber is not actually that well suited for me. It’s just really a 30 second effort, six times, and then sort of saving it for the sprint. It was a bit of a smaller group in the end than I thought but I timed the sprint quite well and that was that....

"I think with something like Zwift you’ve got to see where everyone’s at around half-way through the race because it’s like a cyclocross race where it’s full gas for 15 or 20 minutes and guys are going everywhere and then it finally settles down and that kind of stays like that for the rest of the race."

Women's Stage 1 winner Marianne Vos of CCC Liv: "I enjoyed it, it’s very hard, you can’t really hide. It was a nice race and in the last steps you certainly get that race feel.

“I have a lot of experience, but I have some experienced team-mates, it’s a team event. We really tried to make the best of it and thanks to the team for giving me the tips and tricks. We will all be racing together over the next few days and of course everyone will be trying to make the best for our team."

Stage 2: Cobbled Climbs, Richmond. Elevation Gain: 126m (413ft). Total distance: 46.2km (28.5miles)

Richmond’s “Cobbled Climbs” route, renamed from “Prefer Hilly Roads” in the Richmond refresh, is one of the punchier routes on Zwift, with 126m (413′) of elevation gain per 9.2km (5.7 miles) lap. The route also includes timed KOM segments for curvy, cobbled Libby Hill and short, steep, straight 23rd Street. The third climb (Governor Street) isn’t timed, but it’s the longest and most painful, plus it leads into the false-flat finish.

PRO TEAMS LINE UP FOR ZWIFT TOUR FOR ALL

The 19 men’s and women’s teams competing in the inaugural Zwift Tour For All pro series have announced their startlists for stage two which begins at 14:00 BST today (Tuesday 5 March)

1 Israel Start-Up Nation – 88

2 EF Education First Pro Cycling – 68

3 NTT Pro Cycling Team – 63

4 Alpecin-Fenix – 62

5 Team Cofidis – 38

1 Canyon SRAM – 70

2 Team TIBCO Silicon Valley Bank – 68

3 Team Twenty20 – 59

4 Valcar - Travel & Service – 54

5 FDJ Nouvelle - Aquitaine Futuroscope - 48

We kicked off the Tour with a flat-ish stage for the sprinters, but both courses featured one short steep hill.

Course: Innsbruckring, Innsbruck. Elevation Gain: 72m (237ft). Total distance: 52.9km (33miles)

Winners: Freddy Ovett (Israel Start-Up Nation) & Marianne Vos (CCC Liv)

Our first hilly stage.

Course: Cobbled Climbs, Richmond. Elevation Gain: 126m (413ft). Total distance: 46.2km (28.5miles)

Our first mountain stage. We begin by taking Ocean Boulevard around to the reverse Hilly KOM, which is the first half of the Figure 8 route. Then it’s over to the Volcano and up to the top before descending down and heading to the Italian Villas then the Mayan Jungle for a reverse loop of the circuit. After climbing out of the jungle, we descend back to sea level, hit The Esses and spin a quick around the Volcano Circuit. Then it’s through downtown Watopia and out Ocean Boulevard once more to the forward Epic KOM. Our route finishes at the Epic KOM banner.

Course: Medio Fondo, Watopia. Elevation Gain: 981m (3220ft). Total distance: 72.9km (45.1miles)

We give everyone’s climbing legs a break with a mostly flat and fast stage. Enjoy it while it lasts because tomorrow is the Queen Stage!

Course: Sand and Sequoias, Watopia. Elevation Gain: 147m (482ft). Total distance: 42.6km (26.5miles)

The Queen Stage with a finish up Alpe du Zwift.

Course: Quatch Quest, Watopia. Elevation Gain: 1710m (5610ft). Total distance: 46.5km (28.9miles)