Zoe Bäckstedt has taken her first professional victory, winning the opening stage of the Simac Ladies Tour. The 20-year-old British rider posted an impressive time of 12 minutes and 40 seconds in the 10.1 km time trial, beating Lieke Nooijen by seven seconds and Ellen van Dijk by eight.
“I really surprised myself,” said Bäckstedt after her win was confirmed. “I came just to have some fun and see what I could do today, and apparently that was enough to win the stage, so I’m really happy.”
Bäckstedt, riding for Canyon//SRAM, credited her dad, former pro Magnus Bäckstedt, for keeping her motivated throughout the race. “I had my dad in the car behind me, telling me – keep pushing, come on, you can do it, keep your head down,” she said.
The course, a flat out-and-back route with some technical corners, played to Bäckstedt’s strengths. “There were a lot of straights, and that was really good for me,” she explained. “The course was perfect, a little bit of cornering, a bit of technical and some time to take a breather and recover, then full gas again out of each corner.”
Nooijen, who set the early benchmark with a time of 12:47, had to settle for second place, despite holding the lead for much of the race. Reflecting on her performance, Nooijen admitted, “Seven seconds is of course a big gap on a 10-kilometre distance. The legs have spoken, and Zoe is the deserved winner. I gave everything and am happy with second place.”
Meanwhile, Dutch time trial specialist Van Dijk came close but ultimately couldn’t match Bäckstedt’s speed, finishing just 0.16 seconds behind Nooijen. Other favourites, including Lotte Kopecky and Chloé Dygert, also struggled to challenge the young British rider. Kopecky finished fourth, while Dygert came in further back with a time of 13:13.
In a dramatic moment towards the end of the race, Lorena Wiebes, one of the final riders to start, narrowly avoided a collision with a cyclist who had strayed onto the course. Although Wiebes escaped unharmed, she finished in 20th place, 44 seconds behind Bäckstedt.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, Bäckstedt was optimistic but realistic. “I’m in the yellow jersey now, so a little bit more visible than normal. Maybe I don’t get away or anything, but I will have some fun on the bike and just enjoy racing in the Netherlands this week.”
Bäckstedt also sees the Simac Ladies Tour as a valuable preparation for her cyclocross season. “This week is also a good preparation for my cyclocross season. Hopefully, I can do some more good results in the coming week,” she said.
Tomorrow’s stage will start in Nooijen’s hometown of Coevorden. “I’m really looking forward to that,” she said. “The Simac Ladies Tour has long stages, and I expect the wind will definitely play a role. We came here with three good classification riders, so we’ll see how it goes.”
The Simac Ladies Tour continues tomorrow with a flat stage from Coevorden to Assen.
Photo Credit: Cor Vos2024 Simac Ladies Tour Stage 1 result
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Main photo credit: Getty
