Zoe Bäckstedt wins third stage in three days at Baloise Ladies Tour

Zoe Bäckstedt's dominance at the Baloise Ladies Tour continues with third stage win in three days.

After conquering stage 3 in the morning, Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) topped the podium again after a stage 4 time trial victory in the afternoon.

Bäckstedt rode the 10.4km individual time trial in a winning time of 13:23, claiming the stage win by four seconds ahead of Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) and 13 seconds ahead of Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal).

The victory extends the British rider’s lead in Belgium, who now leads the overall classification by 12 seconds.

The 20-year-old regained the leader’s jersey on Saturday, after losing it on Stage 1 to Charlotte Kool (Picnic PostNL).

Bäckstedt took a solo victory on stage three to regain the jersey in Maldegem and held off a charging peloton that was mere metres behind her.

After the race, she said: "It was a different day compared to the last road stages.

"Super short, which I think suits me quite well.

"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 Team Visma–Lease a Bike go up the road with about 2.5 kilometres to go, and I thought, 'This is the only chance’.”

As one of the younger riders in the race, Bäckstedt leads the Youth overall classification as well, by over 30 seconds, ahead of Marie Schreiber.

The youngster also leads in terms of points, currently sitting on 40, ahead of Barbara Guarischi, who trails by three.