Surviving A Season In The Pro Peloton | Zwift Academy 2021 Winners Revisited

From a total of more than 150,000 entries, Maud Oudeman and Alex Bogna came out on top as winners of the 2021 Zwift Academy, earning professional contracts with Canyon-SRAM and Alpecin-Deceuninck respectively. 12 months on, we caught up with Maud and Alex to find out how they got on during their first seasons in the world of pro cycling!
In association with ‪@Zwift‬ 👉 gcn.eu/Zwift
00:00 Intro
00:38 Maud Oudeman
05:48 Alex Bogna
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[@gcn]

Are you excited about this year’s Zwift Academy Finals?

[@alexanderainsworth3371]

When is it released ??

[@MaxMustermannnnnn]

no

[@cesarkaplan4495]

Yes of course😀

[@freeffree4133]

Not really, it's clear the judges were bias last year. Alex didn't win.

[@0545821]

Yes 🙌

[@gamecat1923]

Not mentioned is that Maud has been picked up for 2023 & 2024 by Jumbo Visma, she's going places!

[@theRealDavidn]

That is a seriously fantastic but in no way surprising - Maude is a future world champ through and through!!! So delighted for her!!

[@tomnutting3836]

Unreal! 🎉

[@antsmands]

I to am super impressed with Maud! She is going to be such a joy to watch for years to come and will win races soon!

[@titusadduxas]

She was outstanding in the Zwift finals last year; hasn’t done much since turning pro but she undoubtedly has talent.

[@CanyonWanderer]

Oh wow!, I did not know that, the is great news! PS, Selected Ambient works is great 😉

[@cutenekko]

Please hire Alex as a future GCN host. He's hilarious AF. Also: we need a follow-up vid on his mullet status!

[@gcn]

Hahaha he'd be good right 🙌

[@arraiacc]

I feel like Alex is an EF guy. He'd totally gel with that teams energy.

[@LittleBU96]

I know right

[@richardedward123]

Maud and Alex look so happy. Living the dream. Wishing them the best.

[@gcn]

Yeah they're pretty lucky! Will be interesting to see how they progress in the future!

[@Stratulax]

Pretty cool with the floow-up. Thanks! Sounds like they've definitely made the jump and are doing well. Nice!

[@philbailey2647]

CAN'T Wait to see the finals and binge watching them all week

[@yongers]

I love how Alex’s accent changes between when he was first selected and his interview on this episode… don’t lose your Aussie twang maaaate!!!

[@andycreese85]

What a lovely pair of people! Glad they're both progressing well.

[@MrShredguitar]

Ahh so cool to see this! Been following Alex on Strava all year! He seems like such a great guy. Hopefully 2023 will be better💪 Go Alex!

[@gcn]

We are sure he is a future cycling star! 🙌

[@aliancemd]

Love these 2, happy to see them enjoying it. Alex is such a character :)

[@gcn]

Hahaha he is a great guy to have in your team 🙌

[@richardhenderson1902]

Best of luck for the new season guys 🤞🏼

[@user-po8rx6yj1c]

Good to see them back

[@ethangodridge6833]

Thanks Si. Looking forward to the Zwift Academy 2022 finals.

[@gcn]

So are we!

[@Bluesman2509]

Well done to all these talented guys and girls, I envy their strength on the bike!!

[@gcn]

You should check out our 'Rough Diamond' documentary on GCN+ about the process of becoming a pro! 👉 gcn.eu/roughd

[@Bluesman2509]

@@gcn Thanks shall do!

[@KeithFlint350]

I was expecting to see this vid!

[@Chreeeys]

I hope they make it!

[@matt-lo8ut]

Really get the sense Maud is going to go on to be a top top rider, big wins are on the cards!

[@donk115]

Finger's crossed for them both

[@dcv9460]

Maud fan here 💥💯💥

[@gcn]

Who's not, she's been smashing it 🙌

[@andrewsandoz8005]

Great show! Continued success!

[@gcn]

Thanks Andrew!

[@teqai]

Real question is when's Alex going to join GCN Australia, guy's got a lot of charisma.

[@ltu42]

Hopefully, he'll have such a long and successful career that he'll never have to!

[@alfieclayton6965]

got the chance to ride with both of them at only 16 epic riders and definitely put you through the pain

[@gcn]

These two are going places 🙌

[@katis999]

very nice

[@brizziefritz4794]

Seems a tad dishonest to not mention that Alex didn't really went pro. While advertised on the Zwift Academy promotions that the winner will be on the pro team, Alex only joined the Alpecin development squad.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

Agreed should've been mentioned here. I mean, if you go to their team website he is not listed in the pro team and rather just the development team. I know there were valid reasons for it due to the early injuries that were talked about here, but at least bring it up.

[@philippeleclerc3088]

Yeah But he got a 2 year contract in the Developement Team followed by one year in the pro team

[@brizziefritz4794]

@@philippeleclerc3088 That's not correct. After winning the Zwift Academy Finals he signed a two year contract with the development team (see for example the Alpecin - Deceuninck youtube page).

[@brettoau84]

He had the choice of 1yr pro team or 2yr dev I believe

[@robbeelsas]

Hey I know that café in Herentals

[@cyrilnobody2064]

Ride on !

[@andrewmorris9013]

Alex said the first year of his dream job was a "5 out of 10" which sounds awful - I would have enjoyed hearing more about that. Presumably this is a promotional video for the team sponsors so they won't let the riders complain about anything.

[@DrewKime]

He missed half the season due to injury. 5 out of 10 sounds about right to me.

[@ismailbernoivarsson6009]

As salam aleykom! I need your help brother or anyones help! I need your advice on what bike is better? Bike1: KTM Ultra Ride 29 Bike 2: mtb superior Active Fly carbon 610?

[@cornishalps9870]

Jay vine has to be the best zwift academy rider so far

[@theRealDavidn]

When will the 2022 finals be broadcast?

[@troycollett8540]

Think around middle of the month so all finalists have had to keep quiet about the result

[@pedalmafia5499]

@GCN how long do you think till the next Zwift academy come out

[@gcn]

Next week! Keep your eyes on this space 👀

[@lordfarquaad2723]

Got ya Infor wrong he's on the sunshine coast not the gold coast

[@luciouspontorro3741]

Can someone fill me in a bit? So basically there was/is a zwift competition that weeds out riders throughout the year and the eventual winner(s) have the chance to turn pro? So it's basically just a way to scout new talent?

[@oldtwinsna8347]

It's the Zwift Academy finals. It's basically the winners of many elimination race events over several weeks in the fall season. All the info is posted on their website. All the finalists are absolute beasts in Zwift races as if you ever get a chance to ride those races, you'll quickly find out a fairly decent club A group racer has zero chance of getting anywhere close to them.

[@luciouspontorro3741]

@oldtwins na Thanks for filling me in !!! I've tried Zwift, but I don't really like it.

[@mbal4052]

@@luciouspontorro3741 we don’t care

[@luciouspontorro3741]

@Mbal 40 Congrats for being a positive contribution to society. Hopefully your life improves.

[@nicow6808]

The winner is notnecesarily the best overall rider but rather what the team needs at the time

[@Handletaken4]

I remember when a Tour DeFrance bike was $800

[@BULIGNIK]

You took ready-made talents, it's not surprising that they ride at the pro level. They are not ordinary people.

[@gcn]

Absolutely! You should check out our 'Rough Diamond' film on GCN+ about the process of getting a pro contract 👉 gcn.eu/roughd

[@Cassienope]

They aren't supposed to be. They are supposed to be the best who compete on Zwift Academy.

[@edwardp5748]

very cool. ps: the music is horrendous and way too loud. almost always. why?

[@jeanmirgaux4695]

Was he riding next to Rebellin??

[@stephenboshears4832]

The men’s his numbers weren’t the best, but they didn’t like the clear favorite. The runner up Sam was always first or second in challenges Alex was a lot less capable and consistent.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

Sam's a beast. In this years UCI Esports championship, he pulled Jay Vine up the big gap to the line before it was too late. Could only imagine the possibilities here with Sam and Jay on the same pro team.

[@troycollett8540]

Cooper is back in the finals this year

[@troycollett8540]

It’s not just about numbers it’s how you use those numbers

[@troycollett8540]

It’s not just about numbers it’s how you use those numbers

[@donaldpyper4627]

@@oldtwinsna8347 was it the hill sprint task where he just outpowered everyone else and the judges went ‘not like that!’

[@darrelstickler]

Hey, GCN... when you're interviewing people, especially those with accents, have some sympathy for a worldwide audience that really has to listen carefully to hear/translate/understand and not put in background music. Really frustrating trying to hear all the words... especially a Zoom call. What's the thinking there? Graham Norton is missing something. He just has people talking with no music! Or was there just music playing somewhere?

[@simoncbr900rr]

Have any of these E sports winners ever won a race in reality?

[@gcn]

You bet! Jay Vine being the most well known name 🙌

[@CG-99]

Of the two Maud is clearly the most professional. Alex still looks very immature.

[@gcn]

Alex is still very young, but a star in the making for sure 🙌

[@walkthrough1570]

1

[@shanegreen2583]

Great to see how they are getting on. Btw is it me or that T-shirt that Simon has on looks like a male genital on a bike😵‍💫

[@sumeshsude1990]

Now that you have said it 🤣🤣🤣

[@gcn]

Hahaha get your own here 👉 gcn.eu/7Uq

[@HF35752]

Need some better content guys. Just marketing bullshit not cutting it. Give us some analysis and experience of the riders towards achieving the goal.