Chloe Dygert (Twenty20 Pro Cycling) finished the opening time trial of the Virtual Joe Martin stage race on Friday in 26th place, a minute and a half behind. Time trial world champion Chloe Dygert was "impressed" by the strong performance of her rivals in the 8km event, which was won by Australian time trial champion Sarah Gigante, with Lauren Stevens (both TIBCO-SVB) in second place He said. Daigante's teammate Courtney Nelson was third.

"It was very interesting," Diggart laughed in a post-race interview. I think they all need to go to the World Championships. I think they all need to go to the Worlds, which is great. They need to go to the World Championships.

Dygert won the time trial at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships last September with a dominant performance, beating Dutch favorites Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten by over a minute and a half.

The Virtual Joe Martin Stage Race used the Zwift platform with the opening stage held on the infamous Bologna uphill time trial route with an uphill finish in Madonna di San Luca. This stage mimicked the Devil's Den time trial of the Joe Martin Stage Race.

The uphill began with a 10% gradient with about 2 km to go, rising to 12% and 15% near the top.

The riders started the 8km time trial together, and a group formed on the course. However, each rider used a time trial bike and the drafting feature was turned off during this event.

Daigert, who started the race at 6w/kg, quickly moved to the front in the time trial. Her power seemed to drop to roughly 4-5 w/kg as her competitors were able to reduce their times beyond 6 w/kg.

Two kilometers into the time trial, Dygert was caught and passed by Rachele Elliott (Fam Equipe). Elliott is a time trial specialist from England; in 2018 she suffered a stroke while Zwifting, which she attributed to a large hemorrhage in the center of her brain at the end of her brain stem. Elliott now competes in tandem races as a stoker.

Dygert maintained a steady power of about 5.3 w/kg, but fell to third place after 4 km of racing.

"It was very, very impressive," Daigert replied when asked how he felt when he was caught by several racers during the race.

"On the flats, I had a little less [power] than I did at the World Championships.

On the Zwift platform, as the racers approached the infamous Bologna climb six kilometers into the race, Elliott reached the base of the climb first, dropping Daigert to sixth place.

On the climb, Lauren Stevens (TIBCO-SVB) showed more power.

Lauren DeCrescenzo (Amy D. Foundation), who briefly held the women's record on Everest, took the lead on the 6.6 km climb. However, Stevens and her TIBCO-SVB teammate Sarah Gigante consistently pushed 6-7 w/kg on the steep part of the climb and moved to the front in the last kilometer of the race.

"I think my Zwift experience really paid off," she said.

Courtney Nelson (Twenty20) took third place, with Dygert finishing 1:37 behind in 26th.

"My teammates rode great and were fantastic," said Nelson. I'm looking forward to riding with them tomorrow on GC."

The Virtual Joe Martin Stage Race continues with Stage 2, a 71km (44mi) road race on Saturday on the Sand and Sequoias course in Zwift's Watopia world.

"It will be a fun race. I'm looking forward to it," Dygert said.

Watch live streaming of the Virtual Joe Martin Stage Race on Cycling News.

.