Thanks for the responses Eric. I know you are not the decision maker, so please don’t take this as a rant against you. I’m trying to share info with my entire team who are also confused about zFTP.

I just did my race this AM. I did 4.1 w/kg for the entire 54 minute race on Road to Sky and 4.24 for the 47:27 climb up the Alp. I finished with the 5th and 6th place racers. The 4 people up the road were all way over category. Aside from the winner who must have been a junior (at his weight), the others were riding the ADZ at 4.4-4.6 finishing minutes ahead of us. None were DQ’d

But check out a guy that raced one hour later. He weighed 105 kgs and did the entire ride at 458 watts (4.4) climbing the ALP at 4.5+ and beating me by over 4 minutes. B category racers do not do the ALP in 43 minutes.

Last summer, I did a race where I went just above the threshold. I was DQ’d from the results and moved to the A category. This made sense to me. All of these riders racing way out of category are not being DQ’d even if if some of them do get upgraded. I realize the ZRL has a new rule where you can continue to race during the season if you jump out of category (with the thought that people get stronger during the season), but for GC events like the ZWIFT GAMES or individual races, they need to be DQ’d. Or at least that ride should not count towards their GC.

The guy that won did get bumped to the A cat, but most of the others here still remain in the B group. And that guy who did the entire Road to Sky in under 50 minutes is still listed as the Gold medalist. I don’t see a legitimate B racer in this group (see image). These guys are doing 4.3-4.6 for the entire 45+ mins up the ALP. Keep in mind that the race categories listed for B are a max of 4.0 for a 60 min FTP.

I also looked at my zFTP data that was updated after today’s race. I did the ALP at 282 watts (47:28) and my zFTP did move up now 273 watts. Perhaps it was because my watts for shorter periods (5, 10, 15mins) were also very steady at that pace. I have no idea how that is calculated and I’ve tried to research the metrics used but can’t find anything. However, it says it is the est watts I can hold for long periods (40+ mins). You can see that 273w is obviously not accurate.

My guess is, some of these riders will get a cat upgrade to A after this race.

Keep in mind your zFTP has to be over 4.2wkg to get an upgrade!

And his watts were over 300, so he was not a junior rider.

I did attach a picture, but don’t see it. You can look at Zwift Power today at the results and see that almost every race has people riding well above category.

I realize zFTP is not directly from any set time frame from Zwift Power, but how can these people be in the B category? Very frustrating as an actual B racer. This guy who won the GOLD was minutes ahead of 2nd place and they were over also. Take a look at any of the ZWIFT GAME race results from today.

You only have to exceed one of the w/kg limits (zMAP or zFTP).

20 minute power isn’t really part of this, so looking at that just confuses things. You can’t tell from a rider’s 20 minute power what their zFTP or zMAP is.

I thought I had it figured out, but am confused again based on the last few posts. Let me try to simplify it. Let me know if I have it correct.

In order for a rider to be pushed into the next category, they need to exceed the W/KG thresholds for both the 20 minute zFTP AND the 5 minute zMAP.

If that is the case, I don’t exactly approve of it, but it’s ok. But what I would suggest is that anyone doing above the category in either the zMAP or zFTP in a race should be DQ’d. I had a racer do 4.5 in the final 20 minutes of Climber’s Gambit up the EPIC KOM Rev and beat me by over a minute. I did 4.23 w/kg for the last 20 minutes. In actuality, we should have both been DQd.

Thank you! This totally makes sense now as I have been in races recently in the B category where a competitor had a 20 minute max of 4.4 W/KG and in looking at this history for the month even had 2 races at 4.5. His 5 minute max was only 4.9, so that explains how he is still in the B category. I don’t really agree with requiring that a racer exceed both, but at least I now understand why they are still in my category. I always thought the concept was that a B racer have a 1 hour FTP of 4.0 or less and that was where the 20 min FTP came in at 4.2 (estimated to be 4.0 for 60 mins). It just seems odd that I could do the entire VENTOP climb at a steady 4.8 and still remain in the B category.

Oh, sorry, I didn’t notice you’d mentioned your zFTP. Yeah, according to what Zwift says, you should stay a B in this case, because your absolute W for zFTP don’t hit the A threshold.

The page I referenced says:”For example: If your zMAP power-to-weight ratio is 3.2W/kg, your zFTP is 2.63W/kg, and your zFTP (watts) is 140W, you can race in pace groups D, C, B, or A. Even though your zMAP and zFTP meet the criteria for Pace Group C, your zFTP (watts) meets the criteria for (and allows you to race in) Pace Group D or above”

The same argument means someone with 5.1 and 218W (less than 250W) can ride in B