The results are in and the judges have chosen six athletes that will be taking part in Zwift’s Power Up Training Camp presented by BikeRadar this December.
Here, we get to know the lucky six who will be heading to Girona for the training camp, hosted by Rocacorba Cycling in Banyoles, and take a closer look at the riding they’ll be doing.
An all-encompassing training camp experience
Through the training camp, the chosen athletes will learn how to integrate Zwift-powered indoor training into their regular outdoor training regimes, as well as about racing strategies, nutrition and recovery.
Each day will consist of two rides, starting with a Zwift session on Tacx NEO 2 smart trainers in the morning and a session out on the road in the afternoon.
Many training camps now integrate indoor training into their programmes, with the well-established technology making it possible to create highly-focused training plans.
These morning sessions will be used to determine fitness and provide the athletes with accurate threshold data. Using this data, the coaches will devise plans to help improve the athletes’ performance in three key areas: climbing, time trialling and sprinting.
The coaches will also create personal training plans for the athletes that can be taken away from the camp and are designed to fit around the lives of each individual and help them meet their goals for 2019. These plans include L’Etape du Tour, which all six of the lucky winners will be taking part in.
Introducing our Zwift Power Up Training Camp winners
Tom Smalley, UK
Tom is a lifelong cyclist based in the Chilterns, UK.
Tom classes himself as a climber, but is looking forward to building on his experience tackling the small but very steep climbs of the Chilterns and applying it to some bigger ascents in the mountains.
Having only raced in Zwift, Tom is also hoping to take the experience and training of the camp into the real world, tackling L’Etape in 2019.
Fleur Suijkerbuijk, Netherlands
Fleur is a Dutch cyclist who, despite her hectic job as a flight attendant, manages to put in an impressive number of hours on the bike. She has also completed a number of exciting challenges, including riding from the Netherlands to Italy in just eight days.
Despite this, she’s looking forward to learning from the coaches, particularly on how to become a better climber, so that she is better able to tackle her racing goals for 2019, which Along with L’Etape du Tour, includes a number of other races and time trials.
John Vanderveen, Canada
John is a triathlete based in Canada who is looking to focus more on bike racing in 2019.
John’s race season usually ends around August, so the training camp is perfectly timed to build fitness that he will carry into 2019.
John is also looking forward to picking up tips on nutrition, and building mental focus from the coaches.
Kristian Killingberg, Norway
Kristian is a dedicated Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier who has integrated cycling into his training throughout the years but is now transitioning to focussing on cycling full time.
He’s entered a handful of local races before, but Kristian has never had a cycling coach or been a part of a team and is looking forward to seeing how a block of structured training may benefit him.
In the longer term, Kristian hopes he can use the skills picked up at the camp to improve his national rankings in Norway and bring that form to L’Etape 2019.
Claudia Behring, USA
Claudia started riding just six years ago, but despite this was crowned the Zwift National Champion for the US in 2018 — which she hopes to retain in 2019.
Claudia believes the structured training delivered by the Zwift Power Up coaches will give her an extra edge this year.
She would also like to take her indoor racing experience to some stage races this coming season — including L’Etape, which she has never taken part in before.
Delia Thorley, UK
Delia, who is based in Scotland, has been cycling for two years, but this short time has been a tumultuous one! After early successes, taking some good results in a number of local sportives and triathlons, she had a crash during an autumn training ride, which resulted in some nasty injuries.
However, with the support of the Zwift community, Delia is back on her feet — or, more accurately, pedals — and is looking forward to learning from the coaches so that she can focus on her goals, which include taking part in her first century in 2019.
Introducing our Zwift Power Up Camp coaches
Kevin Poulton
With more than 20 years experience coaching athletes at the WorldTour level, Kevin has spent the past two decades designing workouts and structured training plans to help cyclists achieve their goals.
He’s coached countless athletes to wins in Grand Tour stages and one-day Classics, including Mat Hayman’s 2016 Paris-Roubaix victory.
Greg 'Hendy' Henderson
As a five-time Olympian, six-time Tour de France competitor, and former World Champion on the track, Greg spent 20 years as a pro cyclist. He's also a former Endurance Performance Director for USA Cycling.
In 2014 Greg started coaching, and now trains individual athletes across a broad range of abilities, working with riders at club level to Tour de France pros.
Matt Rowe
Heavily involved in cycling for the past 25 years, Matt represented Great Britain at the Junior World Championships before graduating to the pro ranks.
Matt draws on his extensive race experience to help amateur cyclists around the world achieve their personal goals.
We will be hearing more from the athletes in the months to come, so stay tuned to hear how the lucky six fare at the camp.
