Eight riders to join CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation and Alpecin-Deceuninck’s winter training camps in the hope of earning a professional contract for 2025
Zwift, the global online fitness platform for cyclists, has announced its eight finalists for Zwift Academy 2025.
Following months of rigorous testing, four women will head to the Algarve in Portugal to compete at CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation’s winter training camp while four men will join Alpecin-Deceuninck in Denia, Spain as they battle it out for professional contracts on both team’s respective development squads for 2025. Returning for its eighth year, over 100,000 cyclists participated in this year’s Zwift Academy competition, which took place between 5 August and 3 November.
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The four finalists competing for a spot with CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation are:
Emily Dixon, Australia - Emily excels in hilly one-day races having taken part in the 2024 UCI Junior Road World Championships, where she came 23rd, and also competed across Europe in Junior Nations Cup events with Team Australia.
Emma Ochoa, Australia - A strong all-rounder and winner of AusCycling’s domestic U19s road racing competition in 2024. Emma also secured a podium position at the 2023 Dirty Warrny gravel race.
Anabelle Thomas, Canada - Having previously ridden for Canada at four Nations Cup races, Anabelle is a strong climber with a Junior national road title already under her belt.
Tjaša Susnik, Slovenia - A talented climber who has already competed at high-profile races such as the Tour of the Ardeche, Tour de l’Avenir and Tour of Guangxi as part of the BTC City Ljubljana Scott squad. Tjaša’s experience is a definite advantage.
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The four finalists competing for a spot on the Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team are:
Noah Ramsay, Canada - Transitioning to cycling from hockey when he was 16, Noah’s career to date has predominantly been in Cross Country MTB. He is a skilled bike handler having raced for the U23 Canadian XCO World Championship team in 2021.
Friedrich Klein, Germany - Having first taken up mountain biking with his friends in 2020, Friedrich has risen through the ranks quickly. He earned a spot on the Junior XC MTB World Series in 2023 and took part in his first road race in 2024.
Elliot Bain, Great Britain - Having only started cycling in 2021, and competing for the first time last year, the ex-footballer is a strong all-rounder and has a bright future ahead of him.
Mattia Gaffuri, Italy: Returning to the Zwift Academy finals for the second year running, the climber finished second in the 2023 European Climber’s Championships and also competed in the 2021 Giro Next Gen.
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All eight finalists will integrate directly into both teams’ training camps and tackle a series of challenges - both on and off the bike - which test their bike handling, fitness and racecraft, as well as how they respond to trials and fit into each team.
Some tasks will see the athletes working together with pro riders while others will pit them against each other as they battle it out to see who comes out on top.
Both team’s managers will then work with Zwift Academy coaches at Dig Deep Coaching to analyze each finalists’ performances before determining which two riders earn their prestigious pro contracts.
The finals will be broadcast by GCN, across four weekly episodes, with the first one airing on Saturday 15th February at 18:00 CET.
The winners will be announced in the last episode, which will be broadcast on Saturday 8th March via GCN
To learn more about the finalists, and to see how you can stay up to date with the latest news from the Zwift Academy, head over to zwift.com/academy.
