Season ΣI · Stage 1

DIRT Racing Series Season ΣI Stage 1: Cobbled Crown

Tuesday 29 September 2026

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Stage 1 is a points race in Richmond with a custom finish on top of 23rd Street, 260 m of cobbles at 9%. Three segments are scored: a short climb at 2.5 km for FTS, the Monument Avenue sprint for FAL and the Broad Street sprint for FTS, worth 40 points at most between them. The finish pays 120, and it goes to whoever climbs best for 30 seconds after 21 km of racing.

The course

Cobbled Crown is the 2015 Worlds course with a lumpy lead-in: two climbs ridden in reverse, a flat middle with both sprints, then the Worlds climbs. The reverse climbs go up the other side of the same two hills on tarmac, so you climb 23rd Street and Libby Hill twice, once each way, and only the second time is on cobbles. DIRT has cut the route to 21.9 km, which puts the finish line at the top of 23rd Street instead of after Governor Street. These are the parts that decide the race:

Between the Main Street climb and Libby Hill there are 13 km of flat and downhill road at 40 kph or more, where the sprints are and where a chasing group gets back on. About 2.5 km of it, from 10 km, is cobbled, and the draft is weaker on cobbles, so gaps open more easily there.

The scored climb

Libby Hill in reverse is 700 m at 3.6%, and it comes at 2.4 km, straight after the reverse 23rd Street climb. The gradient is all in one place: the first right-hand bend hits 22%, then the road flattens and drops slightly before the banner. It is scored FTS, on your time from bottom to top, so the bend is where the time is won, and about 80 seconds covers the whole segment. Get to the front on 23rd Street, because a group on that bend has no room to move up.

The reverse 23rd Street climb before it is 1.1 km at 3.5%. It starts as a false flat and steepens past 10% in the last few hundred metres, then drops steeply into the foot of Libby Hill. It carries no points, but the two climbs together usually split the field. The short descent after the Libby Hill banner is cobbled, so if you lose the wheel there it is hard to get back.

The Main Street climb at about 6 km is 1.2 km at 4%, steady, with no ramps. It is not scored, but it comes after 2.5 km of flat, when riders have relaxed, and in the Zwift Games races on this route it was where the second split happened.

The sprints

Monument Avenue is 220 m, flat and fast, at 11.5 km. You enter it from a left-hand hairpin, so wind up as you come out of the turn and hold your speed to the banner. It is scored FAL, on the order across the line.

Broad Street is 280 m and flat, at 14.9 km. It is scored FTS, on your time through the segment. The start line is hard to see in a group, so know where it is before you race. Nothing is scored before a segment starts, so a fast time here means going from the start line, not the banner. Expect about 17 seconds at over 50 kph.

The finish

The last 2 km are Libby Hill, two descents and 23rd Street, and the line is at the top of 23rd Street.

Libby Hill forward is 640 m at 6%, with the corners at up to 16%, starting on tarmac and ending on cobbles, and takes 60 to 110 seconds. It is not scored, but it is where the finish is set up: whoever crests it in the front group decides the finish, because there is no flat road left to get back on. Two fast descents follow, at 65 kph or more, then the road turns up for 23rd Street.

23rd Street is 260 m of cobbles at 9.3%, about 25 to 30 seconds. Position at the bottom is everything, because nobody passes on a climb this steep. This is an uphill sprint decided by W/kg over half a minute, not by raw watts, so the heaviest sprinters lose out. Sprint through the banner, not to it: the line is at the top, and easing off a few metres early costs places.

Power-up and equipment

The only power-up is the Draft Boost, which increases your draft for 40 seconds. Use it in a group at speed, never alone. The best place is the flat middle section or the run into Libby Hill. DIRT hasn't said whether you get one in the pen or one at each arch, so check at the start.

There is no feather and no aero helmet.

Ride an all-rounder. The S-Works Tarmac SL9 is now the fastest one in the game, about a second an hour quicker than the S-Works Tarmac SL8 on the flat and the same on the climbs, but it needs level 40 and 1.9 million Drops. A fully upgraded SL8 gives up almost nothing, so don't spend Drops for this race. If you are lighter and want to lean into the finish, the Specialized Aethos climbs a touch better. Pair any of them with DT Swiss 65 wheels.

Where the points are

The finish pays three times as much as all the segments put together. The most one rider can take from the segments is 40 points, and the gap between 1st and 10th at the line is 25 (DRS rules and scoring).

Miss the time cut, 135% of the winner's time, and you lose your segment points but keep your finish points. Four riders score for each team.

How it will be raced

• The first 7 km decide the splits. Two climbs before 3 km, the scored one with a 22% bend, then the Main Street climb at 6 km. Start at the front and stay there until the top of Main Street.
• The middle is where a chase gets back on. 13 km of flat and downhill at 40 kph or more between Main Street and Libby Hill. A group behind saves 27 to 37% in the draft, except on the cobbles around Monument Avenue.
• Only the top 10 score on segments. 11th gets nothing.
• FTS goes on time, wherever you are. Both FTS segments pay the ten fastest times, so a chasing group can still take them.
• The race is won in the last 2 km. Be at the front over Libby Hill, hold your place down the descents, and hit the foot of 23rd Street in the first five. Blowing up on the scored climb at 2.5 km for 5 points is a bad trade.

From the author's ride files

I have not ridden Cobbled Crown, but I raced both halves of it in DIRT in 2023: the reverse climbs in one race and the Worlds lap in another. From those files, pulled out of VeloGenius.ai, in a group at race pace:

• The reverse 23rd Street took 2:11 and the reverse Libby Hill 79 seconds. The drop between them hits -12%.
• The flat middle ran at 42 kph. Broad Street took 17 seconds at 54 kph.
• Libby Hill forward took 81 seconds at 28 kph, and the descents after it reached 72 kph.
• 23rd Street took 23 seconds at about 5.8 W/kg. That is the effort the finish will ask for.

Before the race

Start times in UTC: Atlantic 09:45, Central US 11:00, EMEA C 17:15, EMEA W 18:30, US E 23:30, US W 01:30 (Wednesday in UTC). Your slot and pen show on Teams, then Rider Dashboard, once the race pass arrives.

• Heart rate monitor on and sending to Zwift. No HRM means an automatic DQ, though your team captain can ask for a review.
• Power sending to Zwift, or it is a DQ.
• Don't change height, weight or other settings between the pen and the finish, or it is a DQ.
• ZwiftPower registered with data sharing on, and your DIRT account showing your full name and Zwift ID.
• Keep your Zwift FIT file. Race Control can ask for it within 24 hours, and not supplying it is a DQ.
• Save the ride as public.

Running Sauce for Zwift? Open the free Race Report mod before the start, and afterwards relive the race: where the splits happened, which group you were in, and how the finish played out.

Sources

• DIRT Racing Series Season ΣI Stage 1 stage page
• DRS rules and scoring
• Zwift Insider: Cobbled Crown, its Richmond segment pages, its ZRL Cobbled Climbs guides and its Tarmac SL9 test
• What's on Zwift: Cobbled Crown for segment positions
• Zwift Games 2026 Stage 3 recon videos by Watts Don't Lie and Casual Creations, for the cobbled sections and where the splits happened