Originally Posted by surak

But just because cycling seems accessible doesn't make it easy to translate fitness into real world success. The difference between pure W/kg Zwift champions and full-time pro riders on the road in real life, and vice versa in Zwift, is a performance gap that can be attributed to where skill factors in. As the Zwift Academy contest has evolved, recent versions have deprioritized pure W/kg in selecting winners. Instead both men and women's teams have emphasized pack riding, descending, and bike handling (bottle and musette duties). This despite offering only development positions rather than WT contracts like they used to, so there is already a lower expectation that the winners can just drop into the pro peloton. Teams have learned that they don't have the runway to waste time on riders who have the power but not the skills. And along with those requisite skills comes a preference for younger candidates who can improve in all facets of competitive cycling over a longer time period.
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