After winning the 2025 Zwift Academy, 18-year-old Australian Emily Dixon and 22-year-old Canadian Noah Ramsay have won professional contracts on Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto and Alpecin-Deceuninck's development squads.
Dixon and Ramsay were crowned as winners in the final episode of the Zwift Academy series, broadcast by GCN and filmed at Canyon-SRAM and Alpecin's respective team camps in Monchique, Portugal, where Cyclingnews was present, and Denia in Spain.
The two were selected as winners after four men's and women's finalists battled it out in a series of challenges put on by the WorldTour teams, where their skills, power, race tactics and attitude were all tested over several days.
Dixon described it as "life-changing", having only picked up cycling amid the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, while Ramsay was similarly emotional after being announced as the winner, calling it "a massive weight off the shoulders."
"I don't know how to put my words together, but it's life-changing," Dixon told Cyclingnews, speaking in Portugal just after being named as winner.
"It's something I've dreamed of. When I think of myself as a young kid, I wasn't sure who I was, but cycling helped me find that, and it gave me drive and something I really loved. I have so much fun on the bike, and if I get to do that every day, that's pretty incredible."
The 18-year-old could barely hold back the emotion when GCN's Simon Richardson told her she'd taken the victory, taking the chance to call home to her parents in Melbourne after being congratulated by the whole Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto team.
"[My parents] put in so much. That's why I was so emotional when I called them," said Dixon. "They drove me to every race, and they were there for me, even if I bossed them around a bit at the start of the races.
"They did everything they could, gave up weekend commitments for me, and they've been by my side the whole time. They always, always believed in me, even when I haven't believed in myself."
Both winners were a bit taken aback, with Ramsay struggling to realise just what he'd managed by winning the pro contract at Alpecin's devo team.
"I don't even know how to describe it," he said. "It's just a massive weight off my shoulders, and I don't think I've fully processed it yet.
I know I'm super happy, but it hasn't fully hit me yet. It's a different stress added now, but I'm excited for the challenge that this brings."
Dixon and Ramsay will now try to follow in the footsteps of successful former Zwift Academy winners Neve Bradbury and Jay Vine, who got their chance to move to Europe and join the pro peloton by winning the competition in 2020.
"I've watched every episode about five times because I just wanted to study her and be like her so bad," Dixon told Cyclingnews, after fellow Melburnian Bradbury was one of the first people to hug and congratulate her when she was announced as winner.
"Everything about her is so motivating, and so she's very determined. She was in the same position as I am, chasing a dream, and I think it's very inspiring to see what she's done with it as well. She hasn't let any opportunity go and given it everything, so I'm excited to watch her journey as well."
While she hasn't yet made her debut for Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto Generation, Dixon has already been in action at the Women's WorldTour this year, riding the Tour Down Under on the Australian national squad as the youngest rider in the race.
Dixon finished 19th on the stage to Willunga Hill and ended the race second in the best young rider's classification. Sports Director Donna Rae-Szalinski told Cyclingnews that "The more it goes uphill, the happier Emily is", and that proved true again during the competition, with Dixon impressing the judges with her ability to repeat efforts, but also her attitude as a person.
With both riders being from outside Europe, it again highlights the global reach Zwift Academy possess, allowing riders who don't get the opportunity to grow up racing in the local scenes of Belgium or France, but who are still good enough, to become pros.
"Australia is so detached from the rest of the world and same with a lot of other countries, it feels so far away," Dixon said.
"I think that's why I'm so shocked because it's something that I've dreamed of, but I didn't really think was possible. Financially, it's so expensive to come over to Europe and race.
"For anyone, it's a very expensive sport, and we're very lucky to be able to do this, but it's only so long you can support yourself until you know you have to choose other things.
"It's very important because it allows those opportunities to be achieved. It gives people opportunities who may not have ever found something like that, which means a lot. Zwift has been a life changer for me, clearly."
