Simac Ladies Tour: Zoe Bäckstedt nets first pro victory in stage 1 time trial

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Up-and-coming British racer Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) took a breakthrough first professional victory in stage 1 of the Simac Ladies Tour, a 10.1km time trial starting and finishing in Gennep.

Clocking a time of 12:40, Bäckstedt beat Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) by seven seconds and multiple former World TT Champion Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) by eight seconds.

“I really surprised myself, I came just to have some fun and see what I could do today, and apparently that was enough to win the stage, so I’m really happy,” Bäckstedt said when her victory was certain.

“I was just pushing a lot, and I had my dad in the car behind me, telling me  – keep pushing, come on, you can do it, keep your head down.”

Describing the out-and-back course, Bäckstedt added that “There were a lot of straights and that was really good for me.”