ZOE BACKSTEDT

After another dominant year landed her a ninth rainbow jersey, the 21-year-old tells Meg Elliot about her favourite moments

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Dusk is setting in when I connect with Zoe Bäckstedt over video call. She is in Belgium, where it's early evening and turning gloomy outside; she sits down to talk to me under bright artificial light. Fresh from the photoshoot for this piece, she has a Red Bull cap pulled tight over her blonde waves, and gives off a sparky energy as we begin chatting. Just out of shot, her wrist is in plaster - a training crash at the end of October left her with two small fractures, delaying the start of her cyclo-cross season.

Until this very recent spot of bad luck, 2025 had been a year of interdisciplinary dominance for the young Welshwoman. From a double victory at January's UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, rainbow jerseys collected in the mixed team relay and the under-23 race, she went on to rule supreme in time trials, winning five out of the six she competed in, and earning a national and under-23 world title. “If I look back [to last year], compared to where I ended the road season [this year], it’s a day-and-night difference,” she says. “I had a lot of wins this year, which I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect to win a road race - that was probably one of the big things, and also to win Nationals... Everything just fell into a good place.”

Her first big victory on the road came in July at the Baloise Ladies Tour, a six-stage race that weaves through Belgium and the Netherlands. Riding for Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, Bäckstedt won the overall and three of the stages, including the 3.1km opening prologue. “It was very interesting. You do a half-hour warm-up for three and a half minutes of racing,” she recalls. Aged just 20 at the time, she became the youngest winner in the race’s 13-year history.