Season ΣI · Stage 6
DIRT Racing Series Season ΣI Stage 6: Crêpe Escape
Tuesday 27 October 2026
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Stage 6 is an individual time trial in Paris: 13.9 km with 125 m of climbing, no draft, no power-ups, and a finish on top of Montmartre. Three segments are scored on the way: the short uphill Lutece Sprint for FTS, the Église Sprint for FAL, and the Montmartre climb for FTS. The climb ends at the finish line, so it pays FTS and the 120 finish points together. It starts shortly after Stage 5, the criterium in New York, finishes, so you ride it on legs that have just done a 20 minute crit.
How the time trial works
Everyone in your category starts together, with the draft turned off. Sitting on a wheel does nothing, so it is you against the clock from the gun. Finish points are paid on your finishing order, 120 for first, and the three segments are scored as in a points race: FTS on the ten fastest times through a segment, FAL on the first ten across its line. In a race with no draft, FAL at the Église Sprint simply goes to whoever is fastest to that point.
The course
Crêpe Escape is normally a 16.4 km loop. DIRT's version is 13.9 km, which ends at the top of the Montmartre climb and leaves out the descent and the run back to the Champs-Élysées. From the pens you ride 3.2 km around the Tuileries and up the Champs-Élysées to the lap banner, then a lap of the Champs-Élysées circuit, out through the Madeleine, and up to Montmartre. These are the parts that decide the race:
| Where | What | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| 4.4 km | Lutece Sprint (FTS) | 150 m at 3.5%, uphill |
| 10.4 to 10.6 km | Église Sprint (FAL) | 250 m, flat |
| 12.7 to 13.9 km | Montmartre KOM (FTS). The finish line is at the top | 1.2 km at 4.2%: 300 m at 6%, a short flat, then 500 m at 7% |
Everything else is flat or gently rolling Paris boulevard, and it is where the time is made.
The sprints
The Lutece Sprint comes early, at 4.4 km, on the Champs-Élysées circuit. It is 150 m at 3.5%, uphill, about 15 seconds. It is scored FTS, so a surge through it from your time trial pace is worth up to 15 points, and the ten fastest times will come from riders who hit it hard and then settle straight back into their rhythm.
The Église Sprint is 250 m and flat, at 10.4 km, on the loop around the Madeleine. It is scored FAL, the order across its line. With no draft and everyone riding their own pace, the first across is whoever has been fastest for the first 10.6 km. There is nothing to be gained by sprinting it unless you are already close to someone.
The finish
The Montmartre climb starts 2 km after the Église Sprint and ends at the finish line. It is 1.2 km at 4.2% in two steps: 200 m of flat, just under 300 m at 6.2%, 80 m of flat, then 500 m at 7.2% to the top. The second step is the hard one, and it is where the race ends.
It is scored twice. FTS pays the ten fastest times from the bottom to the top, and the finish line at the top pays everyone on finishing order, 120 for first and 95 for tenth. Three to four minutes decides 135 points.
Power-up and equipment
There are no power-ups.
TT bikes are allowed unless your race pass says otherwise, and with no draft they are the right choice. Zwift Insider's tests put the Canyon Speedmax CFR as the best climbing TT frame and the Factor Hanzō as the fastest on the flat, about 3 seconds an hour quicker. On 11 km of flat and a 1.2 km climb the difference is under a second either way, so ride whichever you have. The CADEX Tri and Cervelo P5 are close behind. For wheels, the CADEX 4-Spoke/Disc or the Reserve Infinity Disc.
Where the points are
| Score | Where | Who scores | 1st | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTS | Lutece Sprint, time through the 150 m | Top 10 | 15 | 5 |
| FAL | Église Sprint, order across the line | Top 10 | 10 | 5 |
| FTS | Montmartre, time from bottom to top | Top 10 | 15 | 5 |
| Finish | Top of Montmartre | Everyone | 120 | 95 |
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. Your best four of the six stages count for the individual classification, and today's two stages count separately.
For the classifications: the Lutece and Église points, 25 at most, count for the sprint classification, and Montmartre's 15 count for the climb classification. It is the last chance for both, and for sprinters it comes straight after the 40 on offer at Stage 5.
How it will be raced
- You arrive already warm, and already tired. Stage 5 finishes shortly before this starts, so there is no warm-up to do, but there is no recovery either. Spin, drink, and switch to the TT bike before you join the pen. Don't miss the start.
- Pace it like a time trial. Twenty minutes or so at your threshold, with no wheel to hide behind. After the crit, the temptation is to start too hard; the first 4 km are flat, so settle in.
- Surge the Lutece Sprint, then settle. 15 seconds uphill for FTS at 4.4 km, from inside your pace, not above it.
- Don't sprint the Église. FAL goes to whoever is fastest to that point. Ride through it.
- Save something for Montmartre. The last 1.2 km is 4.2% with a 500 m step at 7%, and it decides the finish and the FTS. Riders who have gone too hard on the flat lose minutes here.
- Two races, one score each. Both stages pay 120 at the line and both count towards your best four. The crit rewards one sprint; this rewards twenty minutes of judgement.
Before the race
This stage starts shortly after Stage 5 finishes in your division. Stage 5 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). Check both times on your race pass. Your slot and pen show on Teams, then Rider Dashboard, once the race pass arrives.
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.