Zoe Bäckstedt has retaken the overall lead at the Baloise Ladies Tour, winning the stage 3a time trial in Maaseik to claim her second stage win of the week.
The Canyon SRAM rider stopped the clock in 10:08.132 over the 8.4km course, an average of 49.726km/h, comfortably the fastest time of the morning. It moves her back to the top of the general classification, taking the leader’s jersey from Charlotte Kool, who had held it since her stage 2 sprint win.
For the wider context on how this week has developed, see our Baloise Ladies Tour 2026 start list preview and our report on Bäckstedt’s prologue win in IJzendijke.
How the morning unfolded
The Maaseik course, run out and back from the same town, produced a leaderboard that shifted several times before Bäckstedt ever left the start ramp.
Viktória Chladoňová set the early benchmark, and it held for long enough that it looked like it might survive the morning. Lizzie Hanson was the first rider to beat it, only to be moved down the order herself, first by Lotte Kopecky and then by her Lidl-Trek teammate, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden, who briefly held the fastest time on the day.
None of it mattered once Bäckstedt crossed the line. She took close to 13 seconds out of Wilson-Haffenden, who finished second in 10:21.132, with Kopecky completing the podium in third.
A defending champion in ominous form
This was Bäckstedt’s second time trial win of the week, following her victory in Tuesday’s prologue, and it continues a summer that already includes a stage win at the Tour de Suisse Women and a British national double in the time trial and road race.
It is exactly the kind of week Bäckstedt will have wanted heading into a title defence. She won the Baloise Ladies Tour outright in 2025, and a second time trial win in three days is a reminder of how much time she can take out of the rest of the field whenever the road tilts away from a bunch sprint.
What it means for the general classification
Kool’s overnight lead lasted a single stage. The Fenix-Premier Tech rider took the jersey with her stage 2 sprint win, but a flat individual time trial was always going to favour specialists like Bäckstedt, Kopecky and Wilson-Haffenden over a pure sprinter.
Nienke Veenhoven, one of the pre-race favourites for the overall alongside Kopecky and Bäckstedt, could not match the pace at the front either, finishing well down on the stage. With the race now back in Bäckstedt’s hands, the response from Kopecky and Wilson-Haffenden across the rest of the week will decide how secure that lead really is.
What’s next
The race does not get a rest after the time trial. Stage 3b takes place the same afternoon back in Maaseik, giving the general classification contenders no time to recover before they are racing again.
Baloise Ladies Tour 2026 stage 3a result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
