THE FINALE 😬 | Chasing Down A Dream | Zwift Academy

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100,000 people started zift Academy and we’re down to just six three men and three women Anon always comes into the wheel again on the wrong moment today I lost a bit but I’m still sure that I’m going to win Louis and Matia they followed the instructions in a really

Good Way Maddie she did it in almost a perfect way Katie the pressure ultimately was on her day four is going to be the Moment of Truth final day uh we will point you out with one of our Riders we will go to valo at the bottom section there we will

Do four V2 intervals they say save the best for lost and that’s what we uh tried a bit for today so they shadowed literally our ala ining Riders while doing their V2 efforts on valo that were about 9 Minute efforts so pretty tough

Today we had to do a 5 hour ride uh we had some intervals with the pros we selected uh for every Swift Rider a rider from the team based on the wait so that the the balance was a bit there and just to add a bit of drama to the day

Shut I did my intervals with axelon and then I crashed unfortunately because the street was so slippy are you okay yeah nothing here you feel everything in there yes okay he made a mistake he crashed mentally it’s never good to crash I thought I lost the competition

At that point you don’t feel that great and then you have to continue that’s for sure not easy and off the back of that he still had another three and a half 4 hours to ride it’s going to be a tough tough Day and then at the end by surprise they were over 4 and a half hours of riding time already so some energy some KJ spent we are back at the testing site you do an all out until the top and you try to equalize maybe to

Beat after 4 hours and a half almost so we surprised them with a four minute allout effort on the top of valo again to see how it was result wise compared to the first day putting High numbers on a table is one thing you have to be able

To do it after a hard race after four or five hours and when you still can do it then you have a chances of of being somebody in cycling there’s a lot of guy that can produce really good numbers the first hour but if you cannot produce the same

Powers after 4 hours it’s kind of us useless as well to be in the Breakaway but because you will never be able to win the race I think yeah that’s my strongest uh gift that I have is that I can also produce my best powers after uh a 250k Race I did three minutes 500 you have the five yeah I think so MAA did better than his uh 4 minute power of a couple of days Ago [Applause] once if you can speak you can speak but I give you the time of course 4 96 3 minutes 35 3 minutes 35 yes impressive Efforts come on on T theop go go go go Go and Lewis battle scarred from his crash earlier on continued his effort mouth wide open right over the top of the climb and partly down the other side You left it all out on the street HH I think so yeah I’m pretty sure it was hard is it hard sometimes cycling is harder in the end they all did really well uh they were close to their uh best 4minute power of a couple of days ago or some

Just even yeah did better it was the best top three we we saw from the last year in Swift with everything done and dusted on the road now was the real Moment of Truth we just uh went over all the days one more time now just having the complete puzzle there yesterday you did a very good uh Swift race follow the instructions very well and if you just

See the overall numbers that you did there we were also quite happy with uh with that and then today the long one uh your uh 4 minute power output was all actually uh quite decent for this edition of The zift Academy it was just

Uh not enough for us uh to point you out as uh as the winner unfortunately because yesterday night you did very well but in the end we have to decide something yeah and it fell not to your side I hoped until the last minute to be

The winner he wasn’t quite the right fit for the team this was the best top three in the zift that we saw in the years that we actually did it it’s also for us a bit sad to not be able to work or continue with a guy from your level I understand like

It’s uh it’s it’s your team so it’s it’s correct it’s your decision uh I just yeah I’m happy with the with the experience yeah but keep working h yeah sure I’m not the winner of dri Academy and um yeah that’s that’s basically what I told me so chat

Okay Louis hello Lou I have a seat Anon we have to tell you some kind of final decision your numbers are impressive we have to say it is it correct is it your birthday today yes congratulations then thank you very much because you were really in panic about the

Jersey your replacement uh short at the age of 19 or 20 today after four and a half hours producing exactly the same duration and the same power or even two or three wats more that is remarkable we know that you took a com of uhi when you rank them by numbers then

Anon is at rank one he has the highest relative numbers of the finalists it’s simple Anon because of his extreme good numbers he was was the winner but I said that’s only one part of the puzzle it’s never easy cycling is not easy building a team is not easy we discussed all

These kind of issues and then uh made up our decision you will not be our zift Academy winner for this Edition okay but you also know that it was close with amongst the three of you yeah but if you look at Power numbers I don’t

Think it was close but yeah I I cannot say anything about it but like four just one thing yes that’s one piece of the puzzle you have nine other things I feel it’s a bit unfair decision to be honest you have to fit in the team we are all

Year long we just are with those guys on the Move no I don’t want to discuss about the decision now but yeah I I think it’s unfair but yeah this is just how it is he has a big potential and he has to still keep working on that if he

Can work a little bit on how to fit into a team if he overthinks that tries to learn from it his cycling career is for sure not over that’s stupid decision yeah I’m I’m clear like that’s this is quite a big upset then I was a bit angry also a bit

Disappointed after having a call with my parents also my girlfriend and they uh talk nicely to me and so I’m okay with the decision maybe Anon proves in the next 2 years that we were wrong is possible but I think now that we made the right decision as said the Jersey is

Because uh you were a little bit in panic but I think I think Kristoff needs to add uh and it will be the jersey for the next 12 months as well oh that’s quite that’s quite great yeah thank you very much congratulations you are a the zwift academy winner for this Edition oh

That’s that’s just great thank you that’s a happy birthday I guess yeah after I finished school last year in April with my a lits I said to myself well maybe you can try to become a professional py list I’ve give you one year the Swift Academy was kind of a

Last opportunity to become a professional cyclist that all the work I invested into this sport all the pain would come to a perfect End by achieving a win in the Swift Academy it would be the start of something else but it just would be pay something back of what I’ve done for

This to achieve that level congratulations he is still really young and he has the combination with being young and being open-minded so he is still teachable for sure Louis is really strong I think we were all really strong but I really think the age was a determining until now I just lived a

Normal life just working and doing normal stuff everyone does so I think I think there is a bit space to develop anymore yes in Louis’s case if we just see his uh historic on cycling still quite new to it it’s a really good thing that he is just in the development team

And that he gets the time to progress and from there on hopefully we can test how far he can get at the highest level now I can say I’m happy with this edition of The zwift Academy me uh after two days I was thinking this will be a

Really hard one because they were so close to each other but if we now see the global picture and the level yes we are 100% happy uh with the Decision uh so last day at Camp yeah not not sure what the what the challenge will be but they say get ready for four to 5 hours so should be a good day I’m thinking maybe some kind of I don’t know competition or time trial or something just under 100 kilometers that we’re

Going to ride and we’re going to put into practice everything that we’ve done so far over the last few days okay so we’re going to give you a few tties as we go along and you want to see the best you up today day four for me is one of the most

Important days we got a three-hour endurance right after yesterday’s big day as well and we’re throwing in a 12 minute time trial at the back end of that after the endurance ride it’s almost like a a pref fatigue for the time trial to come I hope that all of

The Riders will finish with a tank completely empty Today I saw a sign that said road closure I asked about this but they said h i can neither confirm nor deny what will be happening now okay so final challenge that we’ve got for you today is a 5.2 km time trial this is the start Point 5.2 K up

The road we got a Finish Line for you fast as you can what we really want to see is it sounds stupid but it’s the fastest yeah so we’re not looking at just numbers if you get to the Finish Line fastest that’s what a time trial is about

Okay Laura revealed that she’s happy that it’s not uh it’s not rased I thought it would be like a mini race and it should be a bit nervous between us and I don’t like this so much because it would be more stressful which is a problem actually for us because we are a

Racing team that perhaps wasn’t the wisest thing to say remember they’re fighting for a professional racing contract and you have to be able to race whether it’s against 200 riders or two or three in a breakaway two one go a rider that has a big engine that

Can do a good time trial on a sporting course at the end of a of a stage race it shows that they have ability to recover when it really matters um putting them on their own against the clock there is no sort of pure form of bike racing

Really just the chance to see how far I can go and be part of a team and have a life that’s sort of dedicated to Performance and cycling yeah the the dream I tried to push more on the hills and then maybe slightly less on the downhills um maybe I could have taken

Better lines in hindsight 4 3 2 1 go first place uh it would mean big big personal goal and prove to me that I can succeed and in following my dreams and also it would change my life like my dream would come True good job good job I was a bit tired because uh I don’t have so many kilometers in my legs in this winter period and from this four days I was quite tired already finished with challenges I hope yes that was it that was it okay I’m happy about this 3 two one

Go Winning zft Academy would mean that hey you didn’t work this hard for nothing like you have this dream and it can still come alive like it can still be Realized it was a Do or Die effort from them we needed them to deliver in the moment and deliver Under Pressure they didn’t disappoint but ultimately Maddy came out on top got the Benchmark time now so we’re going to roll back up and we do one more

And we want everyone to be faster on this one yeah why not here we have a winner and we have two riders that unfortunately have to go home disappointed hello again hello hello how are you good nous sad this is in yeah all of the above nervous excited

Anxious scared you name it well I have to say that from both Adam and I and for the rest of the team we’ve been so impressed we all saw your exceptional efforts here in this in this few days and uh and we cannot be more happier we

Were really impressed uh with the the inside tests not just from you but from from all of three Riders honestly it’s really impressive with such little experience how you’ve kind of molded into a real potential good road cyclist we also saw big uh Ambitions and big uh

Uh willingness to to succeed this year the Swift Academy finals were I mean one of the historically the the strongest field we’ve really enjoyed working with you unfortunately this time you will be not be able to come with our team uh for the next season it was really really

Nice four days so thank you very much I will never forget this experience there are some areas that that you need to improve in um particularly in in the descending we know that that you have a lot of potential but it was yeah a a big

Decision from our side we need to uh say regrettably to you that we are uh not taking you for the team for this season okay yeah I’m really sorry you’re gonna have to spend a lot more time with Adam moving forwards oh you had me like oh so congratulations congratulations

And welcome to the team Maddie oh you’re going to make me cry thank you so much good job oh thank you so much oh la heart rate 100 surreal unbelievable exciting I don’t know she’s put herself through so much over the last few years she’s gotten a wavering self-belief and that was that

Singular moment of realization that right I now have the opportunity to be a pro cyclist and she’s done it done congratulations I’m going to fall conat I will go home and I will go living my old life again which I think is quite nice my family is very

Happy that I will come home we’ve learned from previous previous experience that it’s not fair to drop you straight in to race at the very highest level I think it’s very fair given that I predominantly ride indoors cuz it’s the only way I can make it fit

In around work at the moment um so hopefully I’ll move forward and try to create more time to cycle outside and I I still very much enjoy cycling and I think that has to be at the heart of it right like I’ll give it another go definitely if I

Can the perfect pathway is to come through uh the canyon sham generation team it will give give her multiple opportunities to race at a level where she’s able to continue developing without the stress of being in the world T pelan it’s a great initiative in that

It’s now for the generation team and not for the worldour team yet in that I know there’s still a lot I need to improve on and work on I really looking forward to work with her because she have a good understanding and she is really

Driven I I was at a Crossroads end of last year where I was like this close to giving up cycling because I I had no way of going forward with it and uh I made the hard choice of I’ll give it one more year and see where it goes if it doesn’t

Work out I can say okay I tried and now being able to say hey I won Z Academy that it doesn’t sound quite right yet I always come to the Swift Academy finals and think like okay will they really surprise me again this year because we saw already so much powerful

Things at the zift Academy this year they keep on surprising me it makes me happy as a performance coach because from a scientist point of view you have something like Who I think it shows the the zift academy is one of the best talent identification processes that there are we’ve got bike riders that are of an incredible level and it shows firstly how how popular it is on zwift but also that it is recognized as a genuine pathway into into professional cycling Come