Zwifter Academy Past Winners Update
ZWIFT COMMUNITY | on 1 ottobre 2020 by Zwift
Since 2016, Zwift Academy has launched five women and four men into the world of professional cycling. They were selected from thousands of participants and have rocketed to success! Here’s an update on the previous Zwift Academy Road winners and what they’ve been up to since graduation.
Women
Neve Bradbury (2020 Winner)
This Aussie powerhouse won the 2020 Zwift Academy and has spent nearly a year riding for CANYON//SRAM Racing.
Bradbury took second place in the Australian U23 Championship Road Race in 2021.
“One really special moment was when Kasia (Niewadoma) and Alexis (Ryan) placed second and third in Dwars door Vlaanderen, which was my first race with the team,” she says.
“Zwift Academy has given me the opportunity to race with and against the best riders in the world,” Bradbury says. “In other words, Zwift Academy made my dream come true, and I am incredibly grateful for this.”
Jessica Pratt (2019 Winner)
The 2019 Zwift Academy winner switched from a nursing career to pro cycling to ride for CANYON//SRAM Racing for a year. She earned a top 10 overall placing in the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under in 2020. Before she joined the team, she had won the Under-19 National Road Race title in Australia and placed 9th in the Under-19 World Championship Road Race in 2015.
While 2020 was a strange year for everyone, Jess says she has learned a lot.
“Still pinch myself at the opportunity the Zwift Academy has unlocked for me,” Pratt says. “It has been the coolest journey, and I would 100% recommend giving it a crack!”
Ella Harris (2018 Winner)
This quick-climbing Kiwi won the 2018 Zwift Academy and continues to ride with CANYON//SRAM Racing. In 2019, she got the honor of representing her country in the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire. In 2020, Ella was New Zealand’s national champion in the Under 23 Individual Time Trial, and she placed second in her national road championship. At the Women’s Herald Sun Tour the same year, she placed fourth overall and took home both the Queen of the Mountains jersey and a stage win!
Tanja Erath (2017 Winner)
Tanja won the 2017 Zwift Academy right after finishing medical school to become a doctor. She spent three years shining as a pro with CANYON//SRAM Racing before moving to her current team, TIBCO – SVB. Tanja is a powerful sprinter who took third place in the 2020 German National Road Championship and fifth in the 2019 National Time Trial Championship. At La Périgord Ladies this year, she placed third overall and won the sprint classification.
“My highlights [have] been seeing my improvements each year, from competing and helping to top 10 to podium finishes,” says Tanja.
Another highlight was winning a stage of the Virtual Tour de France! “Racing on Zwift, but with all the girls we race against on the road and winning a stage felt really really good,” she says.
Tanja is recovering from a knee injury and should be back racing soon. She looks forward to representing Zwift in the eRacing World Championships!
Leah Thorvilson (2016 Winner)
A former elite long-distance runner from the USA, Leah won the first-ever Zwift Academy in 2016. She spent two years on the CANYON//SRAM Racing team, and she currently rides with 3T Q&M Women’s Team on the road and Turbo in Zwift. These days, Leah has traded in her pro jersey and instead is focused on bringing the newest talent through Zwift Academy. She is a tireless Zwift community motivator as part of the Zwift in-house social media team.
“Zwift Academy changed my life forever, and continues to even beyond the pro contract with the people I have met who are now such close friends/teammates/colleagues,” she says. “I got to experience pro life with one of the best teams in the world. It’s something most people only dream of, and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.”
Men
Jay Vine (2020 Winner)
The Australian who won the men’s 2020 Zwift Academy has had a stellar first year with team Alpecin-Fenix. He hit the ground running with a 2nd overall finish in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey, also placing 2nd on a stage.
“The main highlight for me this year so far would be Tour of Turkey and racing with the boys, and having the team willing to commit everything they had for someone they’ve just met,” Vine says.
In Spain at Vuelta a Burgos he finished 5th on a mountain stage, just one second behind superstar climber Egan Bernal. Then he was excited to be named for La Vuelta a España 2021. Three weeks of racing across Spain at the highest level of competition in his first Grand Tour and first-ever World Tour race!
La Vuelta a España brought more lessons and highlights for Jay, who spent multiple days in breakaways and came close to winning two stages. On Stage 12, he was the last man standing from the break, holding off the peloton until 500 meters to the finish line. Then on Stage 14, after crashing earlier in the stage, he came back to take third place at the mountaintop finish! Watch his post-Vuelta interview on World of Zwift >
Vine was racing for continental team Nero Bianchi before stepping up to Alpecin-Fenix. He says, “Zwift Academy turned my distant daydream back in 2019 into a reality. I’m racing with a team that I didn’t even think I had a chance to race with, I’ve traveled to countries I would never have traveled to, I’ve made great friends along the way, and I’m doing what I love and that’s riding my bike.”
Drew Christensen (2019 Winner)
This New Zealander won the 2019 Zwift Academy, and he now rides with the NTT Continental Team Qhubeka. It wasn’t a conventional racing season in 2020! Drew spent a lot of time training and learning with his team in Italy.
“Well, what a year it has been alright,” Drew said after his first year as a pro. “Since the flight over, we only had a mere three weeks outside till lockdown came upon us in Lucca. Thank goodness it was spent with some good lads over seven weeks.”
In 2021, he’s been racing in Italy and France, and he finished 10th place in the Gravel and Tar Classic in New Zealand.
Martin Lavrič (2018 Winner)
The 2018 Zwift Academy winner from Slovenia raced with the NTT Continental U23 Cycling Team in 2020. He’s been racing across Europe and even in Rwanda, but this wasn’t his first time competing internationally. He previously rode with the continental team Attaque Team Gusto until 2017.
“I had a chance to experience the world of professional cycling, and during that [time] met so many awesome people and saw so many beautiful places that I will be forever grateful to Zwift for giving me this opportunity,” Martin says. He hopes to continue as a pro and build on that experience.
Ollie Jones (2017 Winner)
Winner of the first men’s Zwift Academy in 2017, Ollie is an accomplished athlete in both cycling and elite in-line skating! He spent a year riding with Dimension Data for Qhubeka. In 2020, Ollie placed fifth in New Zealand’s National Championships Road Race in 2020 and seventh in 2021. Last year, he won a top-tier New Zealand domestic series and was second on the Queen stage at the Tour of Southland. This year, he took third on a stage at the Tour of Malopolska and placed 21st on the Mont Ventoux Challenge. He also has been racing – and winning – on Zwift for Canyon ZCC. He placed fourth in the first-ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships!
Ollie has been busy off the bike, too. He’s working on his post-graduate degree at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch and will soon have two published papers in atmospheric physics.
“Zwift Academy was great for exposure [and] it definitely kept me focused training-wise for those 3-4 months,” he says.
Inspired to give Zwift Academy a try? Click to learn more: