✕

Race Matcher

COURSE × RIDER INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM · LEQP LADDER EDITION v1

What is this?

Race Matcher helps your team select the best route before a ladder race — and the best rider lineup for that route. The system fetches rider data from ZwiftPower (last 90 days of power curve data), analyses strengths and weaknesses for both teams, and ranks all available routes by who has the advantage.

Daily use

1. Select your team

Select your active team from the dropdown at the top of the page. The rider list, captains and team profile update instantly. Switch teams to simulate internal matches.

2. Select riders

Under TEAM ROSTER check the riders available for this match. Use the All checkbox to select/deselect all. Click a rider to expand their full power curve:

• ● CURVE — real measured data from ZwiftPower (90 days)
• ○ est. — estimated values based on W/kg and weight

3. Select opponent

Select the opponent team from OPPONENT LIBRARY. Filter by rung first, then select the team. Your own LEQP teams also appear under ── Own Teams ── for internal matches. Uncheck any riders not available for this match.

4. Analyze the matchup

Once an opponent is selected, click the 🔍 ANALYZE MATCHUP → button that appears at the bottom of the Riders tab — or click the 🔍 Matchup tab directly. This is the primary tool for race preparation and shows:

• Pure Watt Delta — side-by-side split bars showing the average watt difference between the two teams at every key interval: 10 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 5 min and 20 min. Green bar = your team is stronger. Red bar = opponent is stronger. The width of the bar shows how large the gap is.
• W/kg Delta — the same comparison but in watts per kilo. This is what matters on climbs in Zwift, where physics are weight-dependent.
• Rider Profiles — each rider is automatically classified based on their power curve ratio:
  • SPRINTER — very high 5-second peak relative to FTP (sprint/FTP > 2.8)
  • PUNCHEUR — strong 1-minute power relative to FTP (1min/FTP > 1.65)
  • CLIMBER — high W/kg (>4.2) and light body weight (<72 kg)
  • DIESEL — strong sustained power, no obvious peak — thrives on flat and long efforts
• Tactical Verdict — automatic text summary of your key advantages and weaknesses, with specific strategic advice based on the deltas.
• Route Suggestions — all selected routes from your Courses pool, sorted from best to worst for your matchup. The score reflects how well your power advantages align with the demands of each route. Use this list to argue for or against specific routes in the race pool.

5. Select routes

Under the COURSES tab, select the routes in the race pool. Filter by distance (slider — slide to maximum for 100+ km routes), world, or search by name. Selected routes are the ones used by both Run Match and Matchup.

6. Run the match

Go to MATCH RESULTS and click ⚡ RUN MATCH. Choose mode:

• Find best COURSE — ranks all selected routes by strategic advantage vs the opponent
• Rank RIDERS — shows which riders from your pool best suit a specific route

Understanding the Matchup bars

The split bars work like a tug-of-war centred at zero. A bar growing to the left in red means the opponent has the advantage at that interval. A bar growing to the right in green means you have the advantage. The number shown is the raw difference — e.g. +25W at 1 min means your team averages 25 watts more at that duration.

Use the W/kg bars for climbing routes and the pure watt bars for flat routes — Zwift uses raw watts on the flat and W/kg on gradients.

Understanding Match Results

Dimension	What it means
TT	Long sustained flat effort — raw watts dominate
Sprint	Short flat route with bunch sprint finish
Punch	Repeated short sharp climbs — 1-min power key
Medium	Repeated medium climbs (3–10 min efforts)
Climber	Long sustained climb — W/kg dominates

The score blends raw watts (most important on flat routes) and W/kg (most important on climbs), reflecting Zwift's physics model. Strategic advantage (+/-) is the difference between your team's best lineup and the opponent's best lineup for that specific route.