After a dominant 2024 campaign that saw us win the CT Division with 24 victories and finally claim an overdue overall title at the Tour of America, we’re thrilled to be back in the Pro Continental Division. With Zwift returning as the main sponsor, the team has rebranded as Zwift – Newton Foundation for the 2025 season, signaling a new era of stability and ambition after going through back-to-back relegations in 2022 and 2023.
Leading the resurgence is American climber Matteo Jorgenson, who not only emphatically topped the CT individual standings last year but also led all three divisions in total victories. He now trails just two wins behind the team’s all-time leader Justo Tenorio (16 to 14) and could very well take over the top spot this season as he continues his meteoric rise to be one of cycling's elites.
The 2024 season also marked a milestone as the team claimed its first-ever overall victory at the Tour of America thanks to the breakthrough performance of 26-year-old Spaniard Iñigo Elosegui, further reinforcing the squad’s climbing depth and tactical maturity.
For veteran manager Mresuperstar, 2025 marks his 14th season in the Man-Game, and a sense of pride comes with Zwift's return as the main sponsor and the ongoing partnership with the Newton Foundation.
Originally paired together in 2017, Mre and the Newton Foundation delivered a stunning PCT promotion that year. Though the Foundation lacked the financial muscle to support a Pro Tour-level team at the time, they stayed connected through various co-sponsorships — Desigual in 2019–20 and Zwift in 2021–22 — before fully reuniting in 2024 to rebuild from the CT.
The Newton Foundation was established in honor of former cyclist Taylor Newton’s father, whose life was cut short by a stroke. Today, it stands as a powerful voice for stroke awareness and a source of hope, support, and advocacy for survivors and their families. On behalf of the Newton Foundation, please consider donating to the American Heart Association.
During his cycling career, Newton amassed the fifth-most race days (383) under Mre’s management as a domestique between 2014–19, a testament to his work ethic and leadership despite never crossing the finish line first.
Mre has previously led Newton Foundation p/b Zwift (2024), Zwift Pro Cycling (2021–23), Desigual (2018–20), Newton Foundation (2017), Movistar–US Postal (2015–16), and Team CSC–Orbea (2012–14).
Most in a Single Season: Jernej Svab, 97 (2018). Longest Tenured Rider(s): Bram Welten, Matteo Jorgenson, 4 Seasons. Longest Career With Team: Carlos Verona, 10 Seasons.
Tour of Norway Stage 1: 21 Ethan Vernon Stage 2: 7 Ethan Vernon Stage 3: 3 Ethan Vernon (GC - 3 Ethan Vernon) Stage 4: 92 Sean Quinn Stage 5: 59 Sean Quinn [BOTD - Sean Quinn, Lawson Craddock]
The first phase is negotiating contracts with our current squad and releasing riders we no longer want to keep around. With a 2.5 million salary cap, the added room gave us more flexibility but decisions still needed to be made.
Here is how those discussions played out over the last few weeks:
Riders Released
The following five cyclists were let go before the start of the transfer season:
Emilien Viennet: Signed last year as a stopgap TT specialist in the Thomas Gloag trade, Viennet gave us exactly what we expected — consistency in time trials and veteran leadership on a young squad. He finished 35th in the CT standings with two stage wins and the overall victory at the Herald Sun Tour. Viennet capped his season by winning the French TT national title. His demands, however, were too much for his declining skill level for us to bring him back.
Angel Madrazo: We took a flier on a living legend, offering him one final shot to prove the legs still had something left. Madrazo embraced the mentor role with humility, and even showed flashes of vintage class in the high mountains. But at 37, the pace of the modern sport has finally caught up to him.
Ivo Domgjoni: Picked up late as our second stagiaire, Domgjoni showed potential but never quite found his rhythm. We knew he was a long-term project when we brought him in, but with limited resources and higher priorities, we’ve chosen not to renew. Hopefully another team sees the raw power we did.
Tejay Van Garderen: TVG’s return was emotional — a true team legend brought back for one last ride. While the results didn’t pile up, his experience, work ethic, and presence made a real impact behind the scenes. The former World Champion has been offered a spot on our coaching staff should he decide to retire from racing this offseason.
Jorge Abreu: Another feel-good reunion story, Abreu rejoined as a reliable domestique and gave us some solid depth in TTTs and breakaways. While he didn’t recapture the spark of his 2016 record-setting season, his attitude never wavered. A selfless rider who contributed where needed — it was a short but worthy encore.
Riders Renewed
The following 11 cyclists signed new contracts heading into the transfer season:
2024 Wage
2025 Wage
Difference
Matteo Jorgenson
335,000
400,000
+65,000
Inigo Elosegui
140,000
275,000
+135,000
Bram Welten
110,000
135,000
+25,000
Ethan Vernon
85,000
125,000
+40,000
Juan Pedro Lopez
130,000
125,000
-5,000
Yacob Debesay
50,000
80,000
+30,000
Vadim Pronskiy
90,000
75,000
-15,000
Tristan Jussaume
65,000
60,000
-5,000
Sean Quinn
50,000
55,000
+5,000
Carlos Canal
50,000
50,000
0
Milan Fretin
10,000
50,000
+40,000
TOTAL
1,430,000
Looking to Sell/Swap/Loan
The highly anticipated rider availability post can be found below:
Availability
Matteo Jorgenson
No
Inigo Elosegui
No
Bram Welten
Maybe
Ethan Vernon
No
Yacob Debesay
Maybe
Milan Fretin
No
Sean Quinn
No
Vadim Pronskiy
No
Tristan Jussaume
No
Juan Pedro Lopez
Maybe
Carlos Canal
No
Cash preferred but will also consider swaps. Currently would like to keep our level 4 riders (Jussaume, Canal, Quinn) and develop them ourselves, but other factors might force us to loan them out to the Pro Tour during this transfer window.
After domination in CT it will be interesting to see Jorgenson in PCT. Great that you gave our fellow legend TVG a good last season (will be suprised if he dosen't join your coaching staff)
Some expected but chunky rises in wages after the ridiculously good season that's just come and gone, and of course the trainings. I'd imagine it's fairly rare for a promoting team to already have one of the strongest climbing stables in the PCT off the bat, but kudos to you for securing Elosegui and training him into a beast with those ridiculous natural backup stats (along with retaining Jorgenson). A move with real foresight, and it's nice when a plan comes to fruition.
I simply love this team, and already did while in CT. The talents are ready to hold their own in the PCT for sure, and still some development to go for Quinn, Jussaume and Fretin to be very interesting riders.
A maybe sign next to Lopez could be interesting. Not that I need riders like that
While the promotion is clearly well deserved I think all of PCT could have done without this GC double threat of yours But at least with all those achieved goals from last season and quite some cap space left you shouldn't be our problem for too long ...
The most interesting riders obviously aren't available, but there's still one "Maybe" next to a rider that would fit pretty well in my roster, having none of that category yet
Also, good to see that Vernon will stay in PCT for one year and not get to PT directly, guess facing him too often would wipe out the good memories I have from last year
Kudos on the intro post, as always, you set the standard on team history. As other have noted really great squad going into PCT with plenty of cap space left.
Not really an availability list that sets up for us to have discussions over the window at first glance but it's a very sensible one nonethless, no point in changing a winning team afterall!
Really cool squad that you've built here, which is surely well set to fight for back-to-back promotions with just a few moves. Having not been able to match your final offer for Elosegui last season it was great to see him get trained and have so much success, though dreading facing him and Jorgenson a little this year!
I'm glad you were able to put the Bini millions to good use welcome back to PCT! Interesting to see Debesay on the maybe list, curious to see what happens to him
With the CT Budet and the core you have already, this can and probably will already a tremendous PCT season for you. Looking at how Horgenson might look when the season starts, scary
I wish you best luck for the upcomming transfers and the season. I will look at you from the bottom of the standings
I am not altogether overly pleased that Jorgenson has graduated from dominating the .2 mountains. I am, however, completely in love with this jersey! I know it says "No" next to his name but I may still ask a question or two about a certain Kazakh...
@All: Thanks everybody for the kind words. Happy to be back in the PCT with a solid base and a sizable wage cap to help improve the team even more. As for the three maybe riders, I'm probably looking to sell one at the least, but we shall see what offers come in. Always open to discuss other possibilities but highly unlikely I'll depart with any of my core "No" riders.
I'll be out of town Friday and will be back late Saturday night, so bear with me if I'm a little slow to respond. I'll be checking things as much as possible from my phone and will have my laptop at various points (likely in the middle of the night) so I won't be MIA completely. But my wife will likely be upset if I'm on my phone checking this the whole time while we are on this weekend getaway.
Justo Tenorio
Matteo Jorgenson
Simon Yates
Erick Herrera
Rui Costa
Biniam Girmay
Emilien Viennet
Jorge Abreu
Jhonatan Narvaez
Pascal Ackermann
Aviv Yechezkel
Jack Burke
Nihal Silva
Vadim Pronskiy
Akil Campbell
Federico Olei
Stan Dewulf
Nicolay Cherkasov
Jernej Svab
Vincenzo Nibali
E. Parra Bustamante
Bram Welten
Emiliano Contreras
William Chiarello
Serafin Jose Blanco
Daniel Hoelgaard
Tour de Romandie
Tour d'Andorra
But at least with all those achieved goals from last season and quite some cap space left you shouldn't be our problem for too long ...
