Few riders – maybe just one – can say their dad or mum referred to as them dwelling for his or her first skilled victory. On Tuesday afternoon, that honour fell on Zoe Bäckstedt, as she time trialled to a milestone win on the Simac Girls Tour, whereas her father, Magnus, gave her directions in her ear.
The 20-year-old gained the ten.1km opening stage in opposition to the clock in Gennep, Netherlands, beating time trial specialists like Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and Chloé Dygert (Canyon-Sram).
The win marked her first since turning professional at first of final yr, and was made extra particular by having her father, a sports activities director at her staff Canyon-Sram, alongside her all through her effort.
“I actually shocked myself,” Bäckstedt mentioned afterwards. “I got here simply to have some enjoyable, and simply see what I might do at the moment, and apparently that was sufficient to win the stage, so I’m actually completely satisfied.
“[I was] pushing so much. I had my dad within the automotive behind me, telling me, ‘Yeah, preserve pushing! Come on! Come on! You are able to do it! Preserve your head down! Actually give attention to attempting to chase the bike in entrance.’ That clearly helped, and I’m proud of it.”
The course, a simple out-and-back, was “fairly excellent”, Bäckstedt mentioned. “[There were] quite a lot of straight strains, in order that was actually good for me,” she defined, “somewhat little bit of cornering, so additionally somewhat little bit of technical, and in addition [time to] take a breather and recuperate somewhat bit, after which full fuel out of every nook.”
The Brit began Wednesday’s second stage of six-day race within the yellow chief’s jersey, having gained stage one by seven seconds forward of Visma-Lease a Bike’s Lieke Nooijen.
Since her time within the junior ranks, Bäckstedt’s time trialling prowess has all the time been considered one of her strengths. She turned junior world time trial champion in 2022, earlier than including the under-23 European title to her palmarès the next yr. Now, she additionally boasts a victory at elite WorldTour stage, a feat she didn’t realise on the time.
“I’m much more proud of that,” she mentioned with a broad smile. “It’s actually additionally an excellent preparation this week for my cyclocross season arising.”
The cyclocross season begins this month, with the 20-year-old anticipated to construct in the direction of the World Championships in France on 31 January. The busy winter calendar comes after a quiet summer time for Bäckstedt, after she fell in poor health following Could’s RideLondon Classique and missed three months of racing.
“I feel many riders listed here are fairly drained from the season,” she mentioned on the Simac Girls Tour. “I really feel like I’m contemporary and simply getting began. For the following phases, I’ve no expectations. I’m going to go and race my bike and have enjoyable, and we’ll see what occurs.”
