Ten riders - five men and five women - have been named as finalists for the Zwift Academy road programme, which will earn one male rider a chance to compete for Alpecin-Fenix and one woman for a spot with the Canyon-SRAM team.
Caitlin Conyers (Bermuda), Imogen Alton (Australia), Maud Oudeman (The Netherlands), Rachael Wales (Australia), and Willemijn Prins (The Netherlands) made the women's final while Alex Bogna (Australia), Byron Munton (South Africa), Cooper Sayers (Australia), Mads Rahbek (Denmark), and Samuel Hill (Australia) made the finals for men.
The men and women will be together at the same camp for the first time and will be joined by riders and staff of their prospective Canyon-SRAM and Alpecin-Fenix teams at the end of November. Coaches will assess the riders' performances on the famous climbs of Mallorca as well as on Zwift and during off-bike activities.
The winners will be announced on December 17.
The Zwift Academy has been responsible for securing professional contracts for Jay Vine and Neve Bradbury this season, with former winners Leah Thorvilson, Tajna Erath, Ella Harris, and Jessica Pratt racing for Canyon-SRAM and Drew Christiansen, Martin Lavrič, Ollie Jones, riding for the Qhubeka Continental programme in past years.
Vine has been perhaps the biggest success story of the programme. Vine placed second overall in the Presidential Tour of Turkey in his first outing with Alpecin-Fenix, largely due to a stellar performance on the stage 5 mountain stage. He completed his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España, taking third on the stage 14 summit finish at Pico Villuercas despite crashing after colliding with a team car at speed. The results earned him an extension with the team through 2023.
