The arduous qualifying process saw 150,000 riders attempt the Academy process, with the final group of five men and five women whittled down from the crowd to compete in the finals in Mallorca, Spain.
There, team riders and staff of CANYON//SRAM and Alpecin-Fenix will be present. For finals week at the camp, these ten athletes will put in outdoor efforts on Mallorca’s famed climbs, but also test their grit in Zwift races and take part in off-the-bike challenges.
Australians Rachael Wales (Velofit), Sam Hill (Nero Continental), Cooper Sayers (Nero Continental), Imogen Alton (Women’s Racing Project) and Alex Bogna (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) will compete against Bermudan Caitlin Conyers, South African Byron Munton, Dane Mads Rahbek, and Dutch riders Willemijn Prins and Maud Oudeman.
All of the Australians have raced the National Road Series, the premier domestic road racing calendar, with 26-year-old Hill the most successful over his long involvement with the sport, having won the Tour de Brisbane earlier this year and podiumed in the Grafton to Inverell. The now-Tamworth local boasts the most impressive power numbers of the group, averaging an eye-watering 476 watts for his 20-minute power at 6.8 w/kg.
The chosen rider in the women's program will gain a contract with Canyon-SRAM and there is a rich history of Australians doing well, with Jessica Pratt and Neve Bradbury the last two winners of the Academy. An Australian hadn't won the men's until last year, when Jay Vine took the first pro contract with Alpecin-Fenix, with the prize the first time that the contract offered had been above the development level.
Vine acquitted himself very well in 2021 to show himself worthy of the deal, climbing to second overall at the Tour of Turkey, then showcasing his fighting spirit as much as his impressive ability on a series of breakaways at the Vuelta a Espana. Bradbury has been quietly racking up race days as part of the Canyon-SRAM set-up, the Victorian is just 19 and has showed strong potential in domestic racing before heading overseas.
To find out more about the current athletes who will fight it out for the pro contract
