From football to the Zwift Academy: meet the Scottish rider determined to turn pro alongside Mathieu van der Poel

21-year-old Elliot Bain from Glasgow on starting out in cycling, riding the Lancaster GP and rubbing shoulders with the former road World Champion

Elliot Bain
(Image credit: Zwift / Harry Powell)

The last few months have been a rollercoaster for Zwift Academy finalist Elliot Bain. In the blink of an eye, the 21-year-old economics student has gone from lecture halls in Glasgow and what he describes as his "amateurish" pain cave set up in his Mum's house, to finding himself rubbing shoulders with WorldTour stars like Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen in Spain after initially making his first steps into domestic UK racing just last year.

"It’s been a fascinating experience," Bain told Cycling Weekly in Dénia on the Spanish Costa Blanca as he reflected on his time with the Zwift Academy. "You've got to try to take the most from it that you can and be a bit like a sponge, soaking it all up."

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Tom Thewlis
News and Features Writer

After previously working in higher education, Tom joined Cycling Weekly in 2022 and hasn't looked back. He's been covering professional cycling ever since; reporting on the ground from some of the sport's biggest races and events, including the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships. His earliest memory of a bike race is watching the Tour on holiday in the early 2000's in the south of France - he even made it on to the podium in Pau afterwards. His favourite place that cycling has taken him is Montréal in Canada.

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