Over 160,000 took part in Zwift Academy Road 2022, and it’s now down to just 3 women vying for a pro contract with CANYON//SRAM and 3 men vying for a contract with Alpecin-Deceuninck.
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 4:
Episode Summary (Spoiler Alert!)
It’s another double day for our finalists, with a race drill followed by a group attempt to beat a World Tour pro. But really, it’s a triple day, because riders begin with a short Zwift workout session to build up a certain workload in their legs and get warmed up before the morning race!
The outdoor race drill is a simulation: you’re in the final 4km of a race, in a group of 3, racing against each other for the win. It’s a 4km winding circuit race with an uphill finish for the women, for a total distance of 6.5km with 91m of elevation. The men, on the other hand, are taking on a flat 3.7km course with just 17m of elevation.
In the day’s second challenge, after working to beat each other, the riders will work together on the same courses to attempt to beat a pro cyclist! The girls will go up against CANYON/SRAM’s Pauliena Rooijakkers, and the guys will be up against Mathieu van der Poel.
In the women’s race, Chiara starts off on the front, putting in a good pace. Nele takes turns as well, and stays on the front for quite some time. But is this playing into Alex’s hands, as the strongest sprinter, who is smartly sitting on the back, getting an armchair ride?
As the pace ramps up at the bottom of the climb, there’s a clash of bikes and Chiara goes down hard! While the coaches and some riders stop to attend to her, Alex finishes the race… and we cut straight to the men.
The men’s course is both shorter and flatter than the women’s, and there’s a stark contrast between how the men handle the race vs the women. None of them are willing to push the pace, and it’s a game of cat and mouse. Eventually Luca jumps, with Jasper on his wheel. Lucas struggles to close the gap to the two ahead, dangling just behind the two front men as the judges question his strategy. Luca, with the weaker sprint, is unable to get away. Jasper takes it at the line.
On to the women’s second race. Chiara is back on her bike after her crash, and it’s time for the three finalists to take on a pro. Can they work together to beat Pauliena Rooijakkers? The finalists begin by letting Chiara drift off the front, forcing Rooijakkers to respond, and the team trades (somewhat tentative) attacks to keep Pauliena on her toes. But Pauliena takes the fight straight to the finalists, surprising them with an attack of her own.
Then, going into a sharp descending left, another crash! Alex hits a fresh oil slick on the road, going down and leaving Pauliena with nowhere to go. Both riders hit the deck, stopped from careening off the road by the metal guardrail.
The men are up next, with our three finalists working together to beat Mathieu van der Poel. Lucas starts with a hard attack, forcing van der Poel to respond. Luca is next, then van der Poel takes control on the front at 70km/hr, keeping the pace high to keep things under control as Lucas dangles off the back again.
In the final meters, Lucas is dropped from the group, and Mathieu van der Poel crosses the line first in what Si classifies as “one of his best victories.”
As the coaches and hosts debrief in the evening, we get an injury report: Chiara is doing alright after her crash, but Pauliena has a broken wrist and Alex has some deep skin wounds. Her status is tentative.
Riders of the Day
The judges select race winners Jasper and Alex as the riders of the day, since they both rode tactically sharp in the day’s challenges.
Coming Up Tomorrow
On day 5, the six finalists will go head to head against each other up a tough climb. Who will impress the judges with their climbing abilities? In the end, four riders will be eliminated, giving us our winners for Zwift Academy Road 2022.
Don’t miss it! Watch this space for episode 5.
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