How to watch the final episode of the Zwift Academy
Noah Ramsay and Anabelle Thomas to compete for a spot on pro teams
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Zwift Academy
Eight riders, including two Canadians, have been taking part winter training camps with CANYON//SRAM Zondacrypto Generation and Alpecin-Deceuninck, where they have been competing for spots on the teams’ development squads for 2025.
The riders were selected through Zwift Academy, the global online cycling competition, which saw more than 100,000 participants this year. After months of testing, four women trained CANYON//SRAM Zondacrypto Generation in the Algarve, Portugal, while four men joined Alpecin-Deceuninck in Denia, Spain.
On Saturday, the final segment of the four episode series will air, and the winners of both the men’s and women’s competition will be announced.
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Women’s finalists – CANYON//SRAM Zondacrypto Generation
Emily Dixon (Australia) – A strong climber and one-day specialist, Dixon placed 23rd at the 2024 UCI junior road world championships and raced across Europe in Junior Nations Cup events with Team Australia.
Emma Ochoa (Australia) – An all-rounder who won Australia’s under-19 domestic road racing series in 2024. Ochoa also reached the podium at the 2023 Dirty Warrny gravel race.
Anabelle Thomas (Canada) – Alberta’s Thomas, a national junior champion, is riding for VZW KDM – Pack Cycling Team in 2025. In her first year as an under-23, she was ninth in the TT nationals and ninth in the crit nationals.
Tjaša Susnik (Slovenia) – A climber who has raced in top events such as the Tour de l’Ardèche, Tour de l’Avenir, and Tour of Guangxi with BTC City Ljubljana Scott.
Men’s finalists – Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team
Noah Ramsay (Canada) – Ramsay, who mostly mountain bikes, is a national team member—but turned some heads with an incredible win at the Tour de Via Italia, where he averaged 47 km/h solo, holding just under 400 watts for two hours.
Friedrich Klein (Germany) – A latecomer to cycling, Klein started mountain biking in 2020 and quickly progressed, racing in the Junior XC MTB World Series in 2023 before taking part in his first road race in 2024.
Elliot Bain (Great Britain) – A former soccer player who took up cycling in 2021 and began competing last year. An all-rounder, he is considered a promising talent.
Mattia Gaffuri (Italy) – Returning to the Zwift Academy finals for the second straight year, the climber was runner-up in the 2023 European climber’s championships and competed in the 2021 Giro Next Gen.
Future pros meet potential teammates. 🤝 Get to know the finalists competing for a spot on the @AlpecinDCK Development Team.
The race for a pro contract kicks off this Saturday, February 15 on @gcntweet #ZwiftAcademy pic.twitter.com/7nMOPQmdEi
— Zwift (@GoZwift) February 12, 2025
At the training camps, the finalists took on a series of physical and technical challenges designed to test their fitness, bike handling, racecraft, and ability to work within a team. Some tasks paired them with professional riders, while others saw them go head-to-head to prove themselves.
Team managers worked with Zwift Academy coaches at Dig Deep Coaching to assess each rider’s performance before selecting two winners to receive professional contracts.
If you want to tune in and see if either Canadian will be selected for a pro contract, you can watch it on GCN’s YouTube channel.