Sander SteinsYou know the feeling. Being a witness to sports events that later turn out to be historic. I may be getting ahead of myself here, but I believe I recently witnessed such a moment: the first professional win of 20-year-old Brit Zoe Bäckstedt.
It’s Tuesday, October 8, 2024. The setting is the picturesque town of Gennep, located near Nijmegen in the southeastern Netherlands. In 2024, Gennep served as the starting point for the 26th edition of the Simac Ladies Tour (which began in 1998 as the Holland Ladies Tour). The Simac Ladies Tour is currently the only Women’s World Tour stage race in the Benelux, a notable distinction. The opening stage was an individual time trial of 10.1 km, starting and finishing in Gennep.
Strong competition of time trial specialists
The field of competitors that day was impressively strong, with several contenders for the coveted yellow leader’s jersey. This time trial was one of the few opportunities to gain time on rivals, as the remaining five stages were almost entirely flat and likely to favor the sprinters. Just a few notable names among the participants: multiple world and Dutch time trial champion Ellen van Dijk, multiple Dutch time trial champion Riejanne Markus, two-time British time trial champion Anna Henderson, two-time road world champion and multiple Belgian time trial champion Lotte Kopecky. And last but not least, her own teammate Chloé Dygert, a two-time American time trial champion and former world time trial champion in 2023. Additionally, there were plenty of other strong time trialists present, including Zoe Bäckstedt herself.
First professional win of Zoe Bäckstedt
The weather that day was beautiful autumn sunshine, with temperatures close to 18 degrees Celsius and a moderate wind – nearly perfect conditions for a time trial. Teniel Campbell (Liv AlUla Jayco) set an early fast time of 13:19, with an average speed of 45.483 km/h. However, she barely had time to sit in the ‘hot seat’ before Lieke Nooijen (Visma – Lease a Bike) shattered her time by over half a minute. She clocked in at 12:47 with an average speed of 47.349 km/h. Ellen van Dijk and Riejanne Markus, among others, made strong attempts but couldn’t beat Nooijen’s time.
Impressive average speed
Then Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon//SRAM Racing) took to the course, delivering a stunning performance with a new fastest time of 12:40. That’s more than 7 seconds quicker than Nooijen’s, with an impressive average speed of 47.794 km/h. Neither Anna Henderson (Visma – Lease a Bike), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx – Protime), nor her teammate Chloé Dygert (Canyon//SRAM Racing) could surpass that time, securing Zoe Bäckstedt her first professional win.
General classification Simac Ladies Tour 2024
In the end, Bäckstedt finished third in the general classification of the 26th Simac Ladies Tour, behind Franziska Koch (dsm-firmenich PostNL), with Lotte Kopecky taking the overall victory. Remarkably, Bäckstedt achieved this without any teammates by her side. After the time trial, Chloé Dygert was forced to withdraw due to a broken nose from a collision with a shower door, and her teammates Soraya Paladin and Maike van der Duin couldn’t start the second stage due to illness. Her last remaining teammate, Alex Morrice, also had to abandon the race during that same stage.
She hadn’t expected a victory at all and saw the time trial more as a test to gauge her form. For Bäckstedt, the Simac Ladies Tour was an ideal race to regain her shape ahead of the upcoming cyclocross season. Perhaps performing without the added pressure was precisely what led to this incredible result. During the time trial, she didn’t feel as though everything was going so well, so the final time she clocked was a surprise even to her. This performance highlights the fighting spirit and resilience of a physically and mentally strong rider. We’re sure to hear more from Zoe Bäckstedt in the future.
