'I had my dad in the car behind me' - Zoe Bäckstedt takes special first pro win

Few riders – perhaps only one – can say their parent called them home for their first professional victory. On Tuesday afternoon, that honour fell on Zoe Bäckstedt, as she time trialled to a milestone win at the Simac Ladies Tour, while her father, Magnus, gave her instructions in her ear.

The 20-year-old won the 10.1km opening stage against 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 pro at the start of last year, and was made more special by having her father, a sports director at her team Canyon-Sram, alongside her throughout her effort.

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

“[I was] pushing a lot. I had my dad in the car behind me, telling me, ‘Yeah, keep pushing! Come on! Come on! You can do it! Keep your head down! Really focus on trying to chase the motorbike in front.’ That clearly helped, and I’m happy with it.”

The course, a straightforward out-and-back, was “quite perfect”, Bäckstedt said. “[There were] a lot of straight lines, so that was really good for me,” she explained, “a little bit of cornering, so also a little bit of technical, and also [time to] take a breather and recover a little bit, and then full gas out of each corner.”

The Brit started Wednesday's second stage of six-day race in the yellow leader’s jersey, having won stage one by seven seconds ahead of Visma-Lease a Bike’s Lieke Nooijen.

Since her time in the junior ranks, Bäckstedt’s time trialling prowess has always been one of her strengths. She became junior world time trial champion in 2022, before adding the under-23 European title to her palmarès the following year. Now, she also boasts a victory at elite WorldTour level, a feat she didn’t realise at the time.

“I’m even more happy with that,” she said with a broad smile. “It’s really also a good preparation this week for my cyclocross season coming up.”

The cyclocross season begins this month, with the 20-year-old expected to build towards the World Championships in France on 31 January. The busy winter calendar comes after a quiet summer for Bäckstedt, after she fell ill following May's RideLondon Classique and missed three months of racing.

“I think many riders here are quite tired from the season,” she said at the Simac Ladies Tour. “I feel like I’m fresh and just getting started. For the next stages, I have no expectations. I’m going to go and race my bike and have fun, and we’ll see what happens.”