Zwift categories

So, im on Zwift, and im a cat B. Im 52kg and have an FTP of 240. So firmly in the B category. Because of my FTP, and low weight, i get a ‘bonus’ on the hills where its pure w/kg, and not so good on the flats where its pure watts.

All fine, i understand the A category is >250w AND >4.1w/kg.

BUT….. im finding that im getting overhauled by guys whos stats show they are an A, but theyre categorised as a B?
Like this guy (and similar).

Have they changed the categories so low As are now Bs and im reading the wrong (old) info?

Cat A – ≥4.2W/kg and ≥250W so he’s not over the threshold

All About Category Enforcement on Zwift

Yeah, ive read all the category enforcement stuff. But cant reconcile this guy (and others) with stats like this on their zwiftpower profiles.

His 20 minute w/kg & watts are 4.33 and 309w respectively.

So hes over both 4.2w/kg and 250w limits – but a B

20m w/kg isn’t equivalent to zFTP though, is it? I thought (although Zwift don’t publish a formula for ZFTP) FTP is more like 60 minute power?

They’ve changed the calculation method (a while back now) and a lot of what used to be lower A are now in B.

Category Enforcement zFTP thresholds are based on what ZwiftHQ thinks you can do for more than 40mins, in my experience very close to 60mins.

The old system was looking at 20min efforts, as was Categrory Enforcement in its infancy two years ago.

So a CE B can do approx 4.4W/Kg for 20mins and not get a zFTP pen promotion.

Category Enforcement zMAP is what ZwiftHQ thinks you can do for ~6mins, based on your 4-6min data, note it is a prediction and not actual data. There are some weird exceptions, but generally, most riders get a zMAP pen promotion if their 5mins data is >0.1W/Kg over the threshold (so >5.2 W/Kg promotes a B to A).

Category Enforcement has mutated into an awful system with less racers in A, with stronger and wider abilities in B/C/D.

Racing Score v2 was due to be tested anytime and provisional scores can apparently be seen in the add-on app called “Sauce,” but Flint (largely responsible for announcing racing changes), was one of the recently announced redundancies. The Racing Score thread silence by ZwiftHQ staff is deafening.

Its also not the pure 20 min power and wasn’t pre-cat enforcement. It was 95% of 20 min.

Cat enforcement is not just a zFTP, there is also a zMAP limit. Busting either gets you upgraded.

The boundaries did change, many (like me) who were low A got pulled back into B. Similar happened on the B/C and C/D boundaries.

So basically the 20min data published on the zwiftpower profile page is kind of irrelevant in relation to category.

I was looking at the 20 minute data, seeing the category and scratching my head.
It isnt particularly clear that the 20min isnt much relevant anymore in the determination of category (not that i read/saw/understood)

It’s a mystery to me even with all the above explained – some of the performances in B are mental. I feel like I should be a C to be competitive but Zwift made me a B after a few races when I first joined and even with months off with appendicitis and then a gradual work back I didn’t ever get downgraded.

I think I’m a low end B – so I try to find races where all the pens go off together so I can usually find a group that is pushing at the end of my limits and is enjoyable.

When I do B only races it can be a bit demoralising.

It’s not worth thinking about too much really. For all you know in real life he’s actually pushing 90kg

I just finished a winter 10 race series, started off in Cat C with placings from 4th to 22nd from a field of 70+ in the first six races. I was then promoted to Cat B for the remaining four races and was only mid pack out of 50+ riders.

@joebristol if you are just into B then yeah it is going to suck. The gap between top and bottom of the cat is huge. Those of us that moved down in the regrade can often sit in the pack in Z2 (or less!) which gives lots of overhead for attacking hard and frequently. Have you looked at zwiftracing.app? You might be able to find some more fun events from those that use the different ranking scheme.

What happens in a race is heavily dependent on the course. I’ve got third in a crit in C but on the next race with slightly more hills I was 20th. B can be populated with big rower/rugby player types as well as whippets.

Had to smile at this – I’m a low A cat in Zwift which generally means I get smashed by a whole load of B cats…

Doing a flat TT in 15 mins so I’ll test the theory 🤣