Over 160,000 took part in Zwift Academy Road 2022, and it’s now down to just 4 women vying for a pro contract with CANYON//SRAM and 4 men vying for a contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck after Will Lowden tested positive for Covid.
Zwift partnered with GCN to bring you a series of 5 episodes documenting the finals process – a new episode each day this week, hosted by Si and Manon. Here are the details of today’s episode…
Watch Episode 3:
Episode Summary (Spoiler Alert!)
It’s another double day for our finalists: an outdoor ride, followed by a Crit City race on Zwift in the afternoon.
The day begins with bad news: Will Lowden has tested positive for Covid, the second finalist to fall to Covid (American Liz Van Houweling flew to Spain and tested positive just before the competition even began).
The outside ride focuses on key technical elements of outdoor racing: putting on jackets while on the bike, fetching bottles from the team car, riding behind the car, and grabbing a musette.
One of the favorites on the men’s side, Luca Vergallito, talks about where his “Il Bandito” nickname came from, and what his strengths are.
“Riding your bike for a living would be incredible”
Luca
In the skills test, Luca performs well, while Lucas rides too slowly, drops a bottle, and gets dropped from the group. The coaches joke that Lucas will have to pay for that lost bottle. But the irony is, that slip-up could really cost him!
The Crit City race is next: a brutal points race across 5 laps of Downtown Dolphin, where points are given on every lap (3 points for 1st, 2 for 2nd, 1 for third) at the top of the brick climb, and double points at the finish line. The coaches are looking for smart tactics as well as fitness.
The women trade blows first, but the pack of four stays together until the final 60 seconds. Chiara puts in a dominant showing, with the final points results being:
- Chiara: 15 pts
- Alex: 10 pts
- Elena: 9 pts
- Nele: 8 pts
In the men’s race, Hanna says Cooper is the one to watch. Jasper, however, wins the first three sprints. Then Luca makes a big attack on the descent of lap 3, staying off the front to the finish to win two sprints and take the overall win.
Riders of the Day
Judges selected Alex and Luca as the riders of the day. Alex was picked because she performed very well in the outdoor skills ride and produced a strong result in Crit City. Luca was chosen once again because he impressed the judges with this approach to the race, both tactically and physically.
Eliminations
At the end of the day, judges needed to decide who the first riders eliminated from competition would be. Elena and Cooper were chosen.
Coming Up Tomorrow
On day 4, the six remaining finalists will go head to head against each other… then race against pro riders Pauliena Rooijakkers and Mathieu van der Poel! Watch this space for episode 4.
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