There’s winning bike races, and then there’s doing what Zoe Bäckstedt did in the women’s junior time trial at the World Championships a few days ago. One minute and thirty six seconds was her margin over Germany’s Justyna Czapla in second place. It was a commanding and dominating ride: technically sound, physically strong, the British rider’s aerodynamics were perfectly dialled. Perhaps the most impressive aspect about the whole thing was just how easy Bäckstedt made it look, finessing the roads with that effortless knack that all of the world’s most talented time trialists seem to have.
But it’s not just this singular performance at the World Championships this year that has put Bäckstedt’s name on the map and made her one of the most talked about young riders in the world. In 2021, Bäckstedt became junior world champion on the road, and she was both European and world champion in cyclo-cross – not to mention her multiple national titles and Nations Cups wins.
It doesn’t stop at road and cyclo-cross, either. Bäckstedt also won three European titles on the track in the same season. In 2022, in addition to her time trial World Championship victory, she’s already secured a rainbow jersey in the Madison on the track, all still with the road race in Wollongong and an entire cyclo-cross season still to come this year. She’s already riding for a Women’s WorldTour team and has a two year contract to boot. It takes some processing to get your head around all that Bäckstedt has achieved at still just 17-years-old.
So how does she do it? Is it natural talent? Is it that she simply trains more than anyone else? Can she dig deeper? Race smarter?
“Ultimately, it comes down to raw, natural talent. I still keep being gobsmacked by her performances, I don’t quite get it,” Zoe’s father, Magnus Bäckstedt (a former winner of Paris-Roubaix) tells me a few days after the 17-year-old’s time trial win.
“The time gap that she did there, I can’t quite get my head around how,” he continues. “I know that it’s a common perception in the cycling fraternities that she is a full-time professional and has been for a number of years, and she trains more than anyone. I think even at the age of 14, there were people talking that she was doing 18 or 20 hours on the bike. Ultimately, we’re not anywhere near full capacity and training yet in terms of the hours and everything else.”
Magnus doesn’t see long hours and intense…