Neve Bradbury: from Zwift Academy to the World Tour

2020 has been a very difficult year for cyclists around the globe, especially for young riders. Apart from being in lockdown and forced to train indoor during the first months of the year, they have had hardly any racing opportunities after that either. For Australian Neve Bradbury however, things took an unexpected turn. Her indoor training sessions gave her the idea to enroll for Zwift Academy. The 18-year old took an unexpected win and earned a contract on the Canyon//SRAM World Tour team.

On the eve of our interview, Neve netted her first win for her new team at the Hawthorn Cycling Club summer criteriums, although Neve somewhat plays down that achievement.

Well, it wasn’t really a big deal. It was just a half an hour local crit. So pretty chill, and nice to do. I do one every week. And yeah, good to get the win in the new kit. 

Last week was different, then you participated with the Australian national team at the Santos Festival of Cycling.

That was really cool, to have that experience and get that exposure to racing with the pro teams. I never raced with and against pros before. I’m really happy with the results too. Personally I was sixth, but more importantly my teammate (Sarah Gigante) won in nearly every category, GC, QOM and best young rider.

It was also your first time up Willunga Hill. How was that?

It’s actually not a very hard climb, I did in like 9,5 minutes. But it’s all about the publicity, everyone knows it.

"I like to think everything happens for a reason, and in this case that turned out well."  (on her participation to Zwift Academy 2020)

Tell us Neve, how did it all start for you? How did you get an interest in cycling?

It has always been in our family. My dad used to ride, twenty-odd years ago, and we were watching the Tour de France and all of that at home. Then when I was about 12, my brother and twin sister Isla were already racing, and I was just watching. One day my sister offered me 80 dollars of pocket money if I would go racing too, so I thought I might as well give it go.

Last year has been very hard for many riders due to the COVID pandemic. How was that for you?

In Melbourne we had a sixteen week period where we couldn’t ride further than 5K from home and for no longer than 2 hours. Also, not knowing when racing was going to be back on was pretty tough, mentally, because what was the point of even training? That’s when the Zwift Academy started growing in the back of my mind.

Did you use Zwift before COVID started actually?

Just a little, not a huge amount, only when the weather was really too bad to go out riding. But I really got into it during lockdown.

Do you think you would have signed up for Zwift Academy, if there hadn’t been a lockdown?

That’s a tough question actually. Probably not, I would say, because I didn’t really like it before. I just started getting into it during lockdown when discovering all the races and the events. But I like to think everything happens for a reason, and in this case that turned out pretty well.

Do you want to know more about how Neve experienced the Zwift Academy? Read her blogpost at VoxWomen.com

What are your plans in the upcoming months?

After the Nationals, I’m having a break, because I never have that off-season the riders in Europe have. Then hopefully I’m going to Girona (Spain) mid to late March. I’ll be living there with Ella Harris. It’s quite exciting but I think I’ll be ok. Girona is like a small cycling community, and I already know a lot of people that are going to be there. It’s going to be like a second family actually.

It won’t be your first time in Europe though.

No, that’s right. In 2017, I came over to Belgium for a month with Cycling Australia, and we did a lot of kermesses. That was cool experience. The racing was pretty different than in Australia. The bunches were a lot bigger then you get here. And the spectators were all around.

Do you know what racing program you’ll have in Europe already?

No, not yet at all. But for me, this year is mainly about getting experience riding in the bunch. Getting specific places or results myself is not really the goal, but I’ll try to help the team in any way I can and get that exposure to the World Tour peloton.

What about later in your career? What’s the race you would like to win the most?

I consider myself a stage race rider, so I would say the Giro Rosa probably. Or who knows, the Tour de France, if a proper version for women gets organized in the future.