Over 108,000 riders took part in Zwift Academy 2023, a 12% increase from 2022. Most participants were there simply to build fitness, but a smaller group was vying for the big prize: a cycling team contract for the 2024 season!
This year’s finals look a bit different than last year’s. First, both men’s and women’s finalists are chasing development team contracts this year. Additionally, a smaller number of finalists were selected (6 instead of last year’s 10). Lastly, the finals are happening in late January/early February, instead of early December.
Here’s what we know about the finalists, plus additional details on where the finals will be held and how we can watch.
CANYON//SRAM Generation Finalists
Laura Simenc (Slovenia) – ZwiftPower Profile
An all-rounder, Laura has been the UCI Gran Fondo champion twice and is a former National Champion in Sprint Triathlon. She races for Wahoo Le Col on Zwift.
Maude (Maddie) Le Roux (South Africa) – ZwiftPower Profile
Another climber, for the last 2 years Maddie has competed for the UCI World Cycling Centre Continental Team and has represented South Africa in the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships on Zwift. She races for Wahoo Le Col on Zwift.
Katy Hill (Great Britain) – ZwiftPower Profile
Classed as a climber, Katy started her journey into cycling through her University Triathlon Club and began racing her bike competitively in 2022. She races for AEO on Zwift.
Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team Finalists
Mattia Gaffuri (Italy) – ZwiftPower Profile
Mattia is a prolific climber finishing second in the European Climber’s Championships in 2023 and has raced the U23 Giro d’Italia. He races for Team Castelli pb Elite on Zwift.
Louis Kitzki (Germany)
Louis is a strong time trialist and is Zwift Academy’s youngest competitor this year. He has competed across Europe and North Africa.
Anton Schiffer (Germany) – ZwiftPower Profile
A Climber, Anton most recently rode for a Continental Team in the Tour of Turkey and Tour of Portugal.
What’s Next?
Zwift Academy Road Finals will be held in Denia, Spain and will see all riders complete a mix of tasks designed to test their cycling abilities, racecraft, and communication skills. Some tests will pit the finalists head to head while others will encourage collaboration as they work with members of their prospective professional teams.
Team riders and staff of CANYON//SRAM and Alpecin-Deceuninck will be present at the camps, and the Zwift Academy coaches and team coaches will be analyzing the finalists’ outdoor efforts, Zwift races efforts, bike handling abilities, and culture fit within each team.
Watch the Finals
Eurosport will broadcast the finals across 4 episodes on consecutive days, with the first airing on February 20, 2024 at 19:30CET. Videos will also be available on Eurosport’s YouTube channel.
The winners will be announced in the last episode.
Will the episodes be on youtube for the Aussies out there.
Yes, it’ll be on Eurosport’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/Eurosport
Will GCN be hosting the show (and thus be available on YouTube)?
Interesting that there are only 3 candidates this year. Budget cuts or are they skipping the “daily eliminations” each episode from 6 to 2 candidates?
It’ll be on Eurosport’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/Eurosport
I feel like this year the teams had a much bigger say if what they wanted to get from the academy. You can see this based on all the workouts including max efforts at 3, 5, and 20 minutes. That is just my 2 cents.
Will the episodes be on Youtube (as is the norm [i.e. last year]) or solely on Eurosport?
It’ll be on Eurosport’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/Eurosport
Do people really care who wins this? I can’t imagine many people will want to watch 4 episodes on 4 consecutive days to see who ends up on a development squad to never be seen again.
I watched the GCN+ series on picking the 2022 ZA winners, some amazing young athletes and very entertaining.
I watched 2022 on GCN+, and it was pretty interesting. Had to feel for the Italian woman, who was clearly the best on the tests, but didn’t get chosen — possibly because she was older (37 IIRC). And an earlier year was won by Jay Vine, who’s gone on to be a quite successful pro (won Tour Down Under last year).
They don’t all disappear into obscurity. Neve Bradbury won the 2020 zwift academy and has just finished the tour down under in 3rd place, a week after winning the Australian U23 road national champion Jersey. Just starting her 4th year at Canyon Sram
So yes people care as it’s a chance to see potential up and coming riders.
The GCN production on the last two seasons of ZA was quite good. Hopefully Eurosport will keep it at that level. It’s a cycling reality show, so people who like reality shows and cycling will watch it.
Maybe, I’m confused but it seems like 3 or 4 of the riders have already ridden for a team professionally?
The exclusions re: being on a pro team are very specific.
They say “Cyclists who are part of, or have been part of, a men’s UCI WorldTour team, Women’s World Tour Team or a men’s UCI Pro Team (listed below) are ineligible.” (See https://www.zwift.com/zwift-academy-pro-contender-requirements)
First year without an Aussie in the finals?
Mattia Gaffuri: Participated in some ZGP events in 2022, then had a long break and came back to Zwift for a couple of Zwift Academy races in November 2023. Have done 2.200 km for the last 12 months on Zwift.Â
Louis Kitzki: Remarkably he doesn’t even have a Zwiftpower profile.Â
Anton Schiffer: His first Zwift event were a couple of Zwift Academy races in November. Have done 1.500 km for the last twelve months.Â
It appears that Zwift aims to portray the Zwift Academy as a conduit from virtual races to real-life finals. However, the selection of finalists suggests a pre-determined choice, with participants seemingly invited to engage in a handful of Zwift Academy races for appearances. The absence of dual recordings on their profiles implies that these riders were handpicked outside of Zwift, otherwise how would anyone be able to verify their performances?Â
This observation is not meant to undermine the abilities of the selected riders who undoubtedly have a genuine talent. Yet, within the highest level of the Zwift community there are a number of riders that could show to comparable numbers. If Zwift is seeking to foster a proper engagement from the Zwift community through the Zwift Academy, wouldn’t it make more sense to select some riders from the community itself?Â
Anton Schiffer filmed one of his Zwift Acadamy Workouts. Could be interesting to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMVEC3y2RmQ
I’m really interested to know how the selection process went and what the most important criteria were. I know for a fact (heard it from the horse’s mouth) that at least some of the athletes were selected before they even completed the whole Zwift Academy, because they were told to “complete the Academy as soon as possible”. Was this a pre-determined choice of athletes? Do we find out people didn’t stand a chance no matter how well they did?
Some okay choices on the Ladies, an absolute sham on the mens side. lvl 17 and lvl 24??? One without a zwiftpower profile at all? This is just a waste of anyone’s time that isn’t already atleast conti-pro outside of Zwift it seems.
Not sure if Louis Kitzki has a ZP profile or not. I just couldn’t find it. Sometimes people change their names, etc…
https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=3902341
He you check his companion app, he completed this race and finished 2nd. Not listed in the results in Zwiftpower though, which means no Zwiftpower profile.
It’s a shame that this was not continued to be produced and hosted by GCN under the old format. The Eurosport production feels stodgy and far less engaging. This structure, the seemingly pre-determined nature of the “finalists” and the demotion of the contract to being on the development teams are all making this whole season of ZA far less interesting to follow. Wondering if it is going to end up going the way of the Hub…