Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) dominated the Baloise Ladies Tour from start to finish to achieve her first ever pro general classification victory, winning her first pro road race on the way to that feat.
She was absent from the next two stages, as they were bunch sprints, but triumphed on stage three A, the first of a two-stage day, holding off world-class sprinters Kool and Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek) in the process.
Bäckstedt followed a move from Margaux Vigié (Visma–Lease a Bike) with only 2.3km to go to the finish, but was joined by Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime) and held them off for victory.
"In that last lap, there were a lot of attacks, and with only two of us in the front group, I had to follow everything. I saw a rider from Visma go up the road with about 2.5km to go, and I thought, 'This is the only chance,'" she said. "A small thank you to Marie for helping me keep the gap out a little bit. I'm really happy."
Her GC victory, however, was built on a second TT victory in four days, as she once again beat Van Dijk on a longer flat course.
Bäckstedt wasn’t involved in the final stage sprint, but retained her race lead, triumphing over Van Dijk in the end by 12 seconds.
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"I think the whole week has been good,” Bäckstedt explained post-stage four. “I've enjoyed racing. It's been also some good learning steps for me, helping the others in the team as well. So yeah, it's just been a fun week. I've really enjoyed it."
Looking ahead, she added: "We'll see what the future brings. I think maybe you're not going to see me winning at the top of Alpe d'Huez, but yeah, it's maybe some flatter races I could do well at."
Bäckstedt is the reigning under-23 cyclo-cross world champion, a title she has held for the past two years, so will head back to the CX course at the tail-end of the season, but has now shown the road form that was always coming. She will not race the upcoming Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for Canyon, but with these victories under her belt, will be one to watch.
Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
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