RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesHow do you react when you’re told you’ll be racing the Tour de France for the first time? For Britain’s Zoe Backstedt, “When you get the phone call to say that you've been selected, it's like, OK, don't scream. You can scream after you've put the phone down.”
The 21-year-old beams as she recounts the moment on video call with The Independent , a couple of days before her debut at the biggest race on the calendar. An electric first half of the season, including defending her title at the Baloise Ladies Tour, top-five finishes at Dwars door Vlaanderen and Tour of Flanders, and the clean sweep of British national road and time-trial crowns, means the Welshwoman is full of confidence heading to the start line in Lausanne this weekend.
She still hadn’t necessarily expected the call-up and was terrified of “jinxing it”. “You don't want to say anything or do anything that could potentially make you not selected. It was basically showing that I was good enough at every time trial I've done this season, just giving it 110 per cent, really proving that I'm good enough to go.”
Backstedt’s prowess against the clock this year, in particular, has been remarkable, with four wins from five ITTs or prologues and her only defeat a second place in the Tour de Suisse time trial, won by none other than the reigning world champion, Marlen Reusser. Backstedt is also the current under-23 world champion in the discipline and will be among the favourites to take a maiden stage win in the Tour’s time trial, a 21km run from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon on stage four.
She is philosophical about the prospect of pressure on her shoulders, saying: “I'm still young. I've still got years to prove myself as well. For now it's like a focus on everything that you can do, to the best of your ability, really just keeping to myself and trying not to think too much outside of what I need to do on the day. A top 10, a top five, top three, even a win, all of those I think I can still be grateful for and and really be happy with.
“I'm there to just have some fun on the time trial bike, full gas, send it on the downhill, really make the most out of that and see what I can do at the finish line.”
The parcours features a 1.8km climb in the first half averaging 6.9 per cent, before another small rise and a descent to the finish line in Dijon. Backstedt smiles ruefully as she recalls her recon of the course – on her first day back on the bike after Paris-Roubaix .
Backstedt is fresh from winning two national titles in June and winning Baloise Ladies Tour (Leo Francis / Red Bull Content Pool)
Stage four's time trial is a major target (ASO)
“In terms of shape, it was not enjoyable,” the Red Bull athlete says emphatically. “So I had to think when we were doing the recon that I'm gonna have better legs on the day.” But the straight roads and short climb are “perfect” for her – “it's not that I'm really gonna suffer over, you know, five kilometres or something [of climbing].” Ominous news for her rivals, then.
Backstedt’s Canyon-SRAM team are taking a strong squad, including 2024 champion Kasia Niewiadoma – who won a thrilling edition by just seven seconds from Demi Vollering, then racing to SD Worx-Protime – sprinter Chiara Consonni and Giro d’Italia podium finisher Antonia Niedermaier. The route, which includes a summit finish on the legendary Mont Ventoux on stage seven, is a difficult one, with a “really savage” last day featuring four ascents of the Col d’Eze crammed into less than 100km.
Backstedt will play different roles, from targeting the time trial and possible stage wins to supporting Niewiadoma’s bid for a second title and working as part of Consonni’s lead-out train, a role she has enjoyed over the Classics season. “We've got cards to play, which is super cool,” she says.
After such an excellent few months she has also taken on the role of team hypewoman, which appears to come naturally. “I’m trying to carry some of that confidence and the high that I've been on after those few race wins into the Tour, and just bring the vibe that I've got as well and keep the team motivated. When I'm having fun is when I have my best days on the bike, when I have my best results, so I just want to bring that to everyone in the team.”
At times her success in 2026 seems to almost surprise her. Asked for one highlight of the year, she can’t decide between four: both her national triumphs, her first WorldTour win at the Tour de Suisse, and the Tour of Flanders.
Backstedt will ride in support of Kasia Niewiadoma, who has finished on the podium in every edition (AFP/Getty)
“I didn't expect to be in the front group [in Flanders],” she says, “So I find myself there and I'm like, this is really cool, almost fangirling the people around me because I'm like, am I really here? Am I really in this group?” She ended up finishing only behind Vollering, reigning Tour de France Femmes champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Classics specialist Puck Pieterse and former world champion Lotte Kopecky – all riders she will line up against on Saturday in Lausanne.
Only a few years ago this would all have felt like a dream, with the Tour de France Femmes in its current form only existing since 2022.
She says: “It's been really cool to be aware of the changes that are happening in the sport, to watch all of the years’ progress and then also to watch Kasia winning in 2024. It's been a really big step. And I hope for the young girls that are also watching it now going, ‘one day I want to be wearing that yellow jersey’, kind of what we had watching the men growing up, but never had the opportunity to say that it was possible. I hope that they all now think, I can do that one day.”
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