Bäckstedt goes back-to-back

20-year-old survives late scare to keep under-23 cyclo-cross rainbow bands

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Noe Bäckstedt soared to a second consecutive under-23 title at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships on Sunday.

The 20-year-old crashed twice around the course in Liévin, France, and despite a late scare, sliding out on the final lap, won by a comfortable 39 seconds ahead of Luxembourg's Marie Schreiber. The Welshwoman became the first Brit to win two rainbow jerseys in the event since Evie Richards, now an Olympic mountain biker, in 2018. "It feels pretty surreal," Bäckstedt told Cyclingnews. "People can put pressure on me from the outside, but you just don't listen to it, you don't take it, and it's whatever you put on yourself.

"I just try to keep it as fun as possible and just go out to enjoy racing my bike. It may not look like it in that first lap, but it was actually a pretty fun course and pretty hard mentally."

Adrenaline rush