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Zoe Bäckstedt finished the road season in style with a highly impressive showing in the Simac Ladies Tour. Now the cyclocross season, and one goal in particular, is firmly on her mind.
The Canyon-SRAM rider will begin that off-road season on Sunday at the Lokeren X²O Trophee. She hopes to be already up to speed there.
“The end of my road season was better than expected,” she said in a team note this week.
“It excites me for the cyclo-cross season, knowing I have some good form for the first races. I just need to dial in the technical aspects, and I’m ready to go.”
Bäckstedt grabbed time trial victory in the Simac Ladies Tour in October, beating noted race winners Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-Protime), Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) and her own teammate Chloé Dygert, plus others.
She went on to finish third overall, just seven seconds behind the winner Kopecky, and to scoop the best young rider classification.
Not bad at all for a rider who is still just 20 years of age.
Now, one month on, she is raring to go again.
‘The road season didn’t go 100 percent to plan’
Bäckstedt will face a tighter schedule than was the case one year ago. That’s due largely to the UCI’s restructuring of the CX season.
“This year’s World Cup program is condensed into less than 2.5 months,” she explained. “That means a lot of intense weekends with double days.
“I’ve still not had too many full cyclo-cross seasons at the elite level, but I look forward to seeing how I progress.”
Following Sunday’s event her newly-published schedule sees her contest next weekend’s Merksplas Superprestige and Hamme X²O Trophee. She’ll then ride the Antwerp World Cup on November 24 and the Dublin World Cup one week later.
But she has a more important target in mind, one which will take place in Liévin, France on February 2.
“One of the biggest goals will be the world championships, not too far from my home in Belgium and, fingers crossed, a course that I will find fun,” she said.
“But most importantly for this season, it’s just to enjoy it and push all the way in each race. The road season didn’t go 100% to plan, so I want to take each race as it comes.”
Bäckstedt won the under 23 contest in the worlds last time around, heightening expectations that she would have a very strong road season.
Sixteenth in Paris-Roubaix was encouraging, as was the runner-up slot in the Antwerp Port Epic Ladies in May. However she had a more muted performance in other events.
Sixth in the time trial at the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardeche was the sole other standout prior to the Simac race.
She’s hoping that her strong end of season will be followed by a more consistent run of results this winter and further ahead.
A formidable family
Bäckstedt has long been regarded as a major talent in the sport.
Father Magnus was a pro for 18 years, winning a Tour de France stage in 1998 and Paris-Roubaix in 2004.
Mother Megan Hughes was a successful road and track rider who was a junior bronze medalist in the world track championships. She went on to become the British national road race championships in 1998, and took fifth in the Commonwealth Games road race that same year.
Bäckstedt’s older sister Elynor is a professional with Lidl-Trek and a past double European junior track champion.
The genetics are definitely there. So too are the results.
Consider sensational road race/time trial doubles as a junior in both the 2021 and 2022 world championships.
Add to that her U23 European TT win in 2023, and her world and European titles in both cyclocross and track racing.
That’s a glittering back catalogue. Even better may lie ahead.
What boosts her prospects is the appointment of Geert Wellens as Canyon-SRAM directeur sportif for the 24/25 cross season.
The former CX competitor has previously guided Bäckstedt, and both are excited to be reunited.
“I worked with Geert for 2.5 years when moving from juniors to the elite category,” she explained.
“I always loved how he approached coaching sessions and made them fun. Geert’s knowledge is like no other, and I find this beneficial when I’m at a cyclo-cross race.
“Having the best support pre-, during, and post-race helps me stay focused and confident going into each race.”
Naming goals, picking targets
Wellens is himself upbeat about their new collaboration. He’s stepping up to the WorldTour, having previously worked with development and youth teams, and says the chance to do so is a very motivating one.
So too reuniting with Bäckstedt, a rider he says he had an ‘immediate click’ with in the past.
“We found a balance of working hard, having fun, and enjoying cyclo-cross,” he explained.
“My job is to help her stay motivated, be ready to give some pep talks and try to give her a good feeling on the bike when we do the cyclo-cross training sessions together.”
He also believes he can hone her skills, give her guidance about dangerous aspects of race courses and help her to learn how to make split-seconds decisions on positioning.
That in turn can, he feels, be the difference between winning or missing out.
All going to plan, she will be right up to speed and build further as the season develops.
“We’ll see Zoe’s level in the first races. It’s important to take the season step by step,” Wellens said.
“Of course, Zoe’s biggest race is the World Championships, but that’s the same for every rider.
“We aim to start with a good feeling in the first races, then go into the first World Cups confidently and set our other season goals.”
