Zwift Academy finals week takes e-competitors onto real roads to find the complete pro rider package
Zwift academy mens finalists complete indoor Zwift testing(Image credit: Leon Van Bon)
The Zwift Academy competition to win a WorldTour cycling contract has been running since 2016, providing multiple riders with a springboard into the pro ranks. The most notable graduate to date is Jay Vine, who won two mountaintop finishes at this year's Vuelta a España.
The virtual training platform of Zwift is used by millions of cyclists worldwide every day in conjunction with smart trainers. The Zwift Academy talent identification system provides talented racers with a clear-cut opportunity to prove their worth and make the jump to the top tier of the sport with a contract on a professional team the prize for one talented male and female rider each year.
More and more riders train with power now, and as we are so often told, the numbers don't lie. This lies at the root of the Zwift Academy process as a rider's performances on Zwift can quickly highlight a special talent or huge cycling engine.
But pure horsepower alone isn't enough to cut it in the world of pro bike racing, and that's where the Zwift Academy finals come in. I spent some time out in Denia, Spain at the Zwift Academy finals which saw the finalists of the competition battle it out on the road under the expert eyes of pro team management and Zwift coaches to see if they have what it takes to perform – and win – in the real world.
Finalists received matching kit and team bikes to use for the finals week (Image credit: Leon Van Bon)
The Zwift Academy finals this year were based at the Syncrosfera fitness and health hotel in Denia, Spain. The centre was founded by ex-professional rider Alexander Kolobnev and is regularly used by professional riders.
10 finalists in total were selected from the thousands who initially completed the Zwft Academy workouts and entered the competition. The Zwift Academy comprises eight workouts that any Zwift user can complete. Riders with pro aspirations also have the option to join the Pro Contender programme, which requires them to complete two additional workouts which analyse their aerobic and glycolytic capacity.
In the interests of accuracy and fairness, pro contender athletes also have to use a heart rate monitor and a direct drive smart trainer or smart bike. The best 10 riders from around the world were then selected to compete in the Zwift Academy finals for a professional contract.
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The professional teams partnered with the competition are the Canyon-Sram women's team and the Alpecin-Deceuninck men's team. A small group of professional riders from each team was also in attendance, riding each day with the finalists to put them through their paces and gauge their skills first-hand out on the road.
Amongst the pro riders was last year's women's winner Maud Oudeman as well as Mathieu van der Poel himself, who we even had time to sit down for a chat with about his upcoming season. Van der Poel's expert eye was on the finalists out on the road.
Mild November temperatures meant shorts and jersey were the order of the day (Image credit: Leon Van Bon)
"We learn a lot more when we go ride with them outside," Van der Poel said.
The Zwift Academy finals environment also highlights the additional demands and responsibilities that come with being an elite athlete. There were media demands from Zwift and various press officers, not to mention pesky cycling journalists, while the finals were also filmed to produce an apprentice-style documentary series.
Filming each day looked to take up a few hours of precious recovery time and for most of the finalists, this was new and showed there's more to pro-life than just pedalling the bike.
The ghost of COVID-19 also reared its head during the week with finalists Will Lowden and Liz Van Houweling both testing positive early in the week and sadly having to travel home. No other riders tested positive but the threat certainly had everyone on edge.
The commitment of Canyon-Sram and Alpecin-Deceuninck to offer a professional contract to the winners of the finals highlights the confidence they have in the athletes and in the Zwift academy process itself.
Although teenage phenoms being snapped up straight from the junior ranks is becoming more common, for many riders, the road to a professional cycling contract is often a long, hard one and Zwift Academy represents something of a shift in the time-honoured traditional and at times archaic methods of elite road cycling. An additional, fast pathway to the top can only be a good thing.
Mathieu Van der Poel leads the charge during some pace line work, as the corporate guests and ex-professional riders enjoy an easier day behind (Image credit: Leon Van Bon)
The finals kicked off with an indoor testing session for both groups of finalists. This was a seriously hard session with a series of max efforts of varying lengths from short sprints to longer efforts over 15 minutes plus. It was made tougher by a problem with the air conditioning, or lack thereof in the training room, which meant things got seriously hot. This was a big opener and the athletes all produced impressive efforts with the Italians Luca Vergalitto and Chiara Doni producing the best numbers on the first day.
The next day saw both groups of riders out on the dry November roads, and the hotel car park was full of activity as riders and team vehicles prepared to roll out. I had the chance to follow in a car behind the men's group, which combined the pro riders and finalists who had numbers on their backs for easy identification.
Ex-racers and Dig Deep coaching founders Stephen Gallagher and Dan Fleeman helped design the Zwift Academy workouts and rode at the back of each group each day. Monitoring and coaching the riding groups as well as helping with performance analysis each evening when the coaches and judges sat down to analyse each day's performances.
The men's group was quickly into some through-and-off riding and the small group of corporate guests following at the back of the group was quickly jettisoned due to the pace. There was a collective holding of breath in our car later in the day when a twisting descent saw one of the men's finalists come off on a corner, which brought down none other than joint Zwift founder and co-CEO Eric Min. Neither rider was injured and the group was on the road again in minutes, with Min deciding not to dock the culprit's Zwift XP points
Tuesday's riding culminated in a 5km timed solo effort for the men's and women's finalist groups on a quiet local climb. After a recon ride, the riders set off at one-minute intervals and big efforts were made at the end of a long day. Many of the riders must have been feeling the previous day's testing in their legs. It was clear to see that all of the finalists were operating at a high level and competition was going to be fierce and close with Vegalitto again triumphing amongst the men once again.
The womens finalists working away one of the local winding climbs with coach Steven Gallagher watching from the rear of the group. (Image credit: Leon Van Bon)
Once hostilities had ceased each day there seemed to be a friendly and supportive atmosphere amongst the finalists, with no signs of tension considering only one of them was going to get a WorldTour contact at the end of the week. There was a relaxed atmosphere in the dining room each evening with both groups sitting together all week.
The rest of the week consisted of more road riding in groups, with Wednesday being a split day consisting of a morning road ride with skills drills and an evening 12km Zwift race.
The women practised grabbing a feed bag from a helper at the side of the road, while the men took multiple bottles from the team car and took them back to the group to replicate another required race skill.
Thursday saw the men's group completing a race simulation on a pre-set circuit, while the women's group tackled sprint lead-outs. All finalists were also required to complete a one-minute maximum effort at the end of the day, with a focus on absolute power and efficiency.
The indoor testing room was witness to some serious efforts (Image credit: Leon Van Bon)
Friday saw another tough day with a long endurance ride of around four hours in duration capped off with a hill climb race for all of the finalists. The pro riders set a tempo for the first 15 minutes of climbing and then the finalists were left to race the 15 minutes to the top of the climb.
The rider's performances were analysed each evening by team staff, Zwift judges and experts who kept a watchful eye at all times.
After a challenging, high-volume week of riding the judges announced their chosen winners, with Luca Vergallito of Italy being awarded a contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck's development team and Briton Alex Morrice winning a contract with Canyon-Sram for 2023. Both riders showed their potential and talent throughout the week, and will no doubt be ready to make a splash in the peloton next year.
Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
