I'll give you my 2 cents of opinion just because I have direct experience in race organizing and I am part of race control committee in a big Zwift series (more than 3000 riders) since 3 years - and we are doing many checks and controls to fight cheating - and you know that fighting cheating is absolutely not easy.
Sorry if I write in English but I don't speak German, hope it's ok if I write in English.
Some observations based on my experience as race controller:
1. QZ App. If I am not lost in translation from German (I have used DeepL to check Google translation and both translate in the same way) you are saying in your rules that you *allow° QZ app?
That app is a good tool and the creator did not create it for cheating, but to allow people with dumb trainers to transmit their power data. The problem with the usage of that app, is that it can allow people with smart trainers to manipulate their power data and add watts to their performance just with the click of a button. I don't want to go into this more because I don't want to give cheaters who don't know about this another way to cheat, but I can ensure you it's pretty easy. So, are you aware of this? I understand the need to be inclusive as an organizer but allowing QZ App is really risky in terms of fair racing. Moreover, at the moment the app can't be easily detected by race controls because it can be hidden (spoofed, technically)
2. Allowing only smart trainers as power source. I can confirm (and it's shown here in Rouvy by RMC and others) that this is a needed measure if you really have fair racing in your goals. I know it's not good to force people who don't have an allowed smart trainer to buy one if they want to race this series, but it's the only way at the moment. And that should include also not allowing pedals that can measure power as primary power source, because they can be easily manipulated as well.
3. Performance verification when w/kg are abnormal by a rider in a race (close to pro levels) - there are a lot of tables around to check which values can be too high for any given power and age class - we use Coggan's one and check it with intervals.icu top 5% percentile - they have a good database there). Again, we are doing this constantly on Zwift and some series (RMC again) are starting to do spot performance verifications too here on Rouvy. I think this requires some effort but it can be needed.
As said, just sharing experiences. I find the tone and mood of this forum very educate and respectful and I like it, so take all this in the same way.
At the same time, I am new to Rouvy racing (I had used Rouvy in the past, but only for workouts, group rides or riding in AR courses I know and ride IRL). I came to this series because I like stage racing on virtual platforms. I have started this one as aerobic endurance training for my outdoor season (which starts in April) so I am not pushing every race but looking for groups that can allow me a good Z2/Z3 workout - then may be sometimes I will push more in some specific race if I feel it (but I am also racing on Zwift and the week has only 7 days !)
One question about Rouvy racing in general, as it's new to me. I see that in Rouvy if you lose contact with a group in which you are drafting, if you don't push very hard (and immediately!) to get back to the group you lose it very quickly and you can't come back to that group if you remain alone. I lost the group I was in yesterday for a distraction (phone rang) and even if I was just 30-40 metres away (according to the HUD) even pushing much more w/kgs than that group average they faded away very quickly (in one minute the gap was already over 200 metres, it was on the flat and they were not pushing more!) I know it's the same on Zwift but here it seems even more immediate and more difficult to get back even with a big push. Any opinions/suggestions on this? (apart from the classic...stay on the wheels and don't get distracted lol)
Thanks for organizing this series, I hope to be able to take part in it in the incoming races/weeks or at least in a good number of it.
And sorry for the long post in English!
danke, hat Spaß gemacht heute. War aber zugegebenermaßen nicht mehr weit davon entfernt, einen Gang runterschalten zu müssen. War nur überrascht, dass der Rest der Gruppe dann plötzlich die letzten Kilometer noch so angezogen haben. Da habe ich keine Chance mehr gehabt, mitzugehen.
, Verbindungsverlust ist für die Fisch
