Cycling
Who is Zoe Bäckstedt? 5 things to know about the Welsh cyclist
At 21, Zoe Bäckstedt arrives at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with an already remarkable record. A nine-time world champion, the Welsh rider is entering a new chapter on the road.
The next chapter in Zoe Bäckstedt's career begins at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Taking part in cycling's biggest race for the first time, there's no better time to explore five things you need to know about the Welsh rider on the rise.
01
Born into a family of cyclists
It was perhaps inevitable that Bäckstedt would enter the world of cycling given that both of her parents boast glittering pro cycling careers in their own right.
Bäckstedt's parents both had successful cycling careers of their own
© Luc Claessen/Getty Images
Her mother, Megan Hughes, won the 1998 British national road race championships in dominant fashion and took fifth place in the points race at the Commonwealth Games in the same year. Despite cutting her pro cycling career short after starting a family, Hughes passed more than just her natural talent for cycling on to her daughters. “Sometimes Zoe and I can be a bit similar," Megan said in 2023. "She’s very much like I was when racing: grumpy before races. Well, it’s just nerves.”
Zoe's father, Magnus Bäckstedt, is perhaps best known for his emphatic victory at the 2004 edition of Paris-Roubaix and for a stage win at the 1998 Tour de France. He was a professional rider from 1996 to 2013. Standing at 194cm, ‘Big Maggie’ was a master tactician; a trait he’s used to help Zoe throughout her young career.
“Going to races when I was younger, they’d always help me with little tactical decisions," Bäckstedt told CyclingNews in 2023. "I remember going into a track Elimination Race with my dad on the sideline pointing out ten fingers – ten riders left – so I knew without having to look behind me.”
Racing in the Women’s World Tour alongside Zoe is her elder sister Elynor. Currently riding for UAE Team L’IMAD, the 24-year-old turned professional in 2020 and has kept watch over her sister as she has worked her way up through the pro cycling ranks. “She’s still there for me even though we’re on different teams, so it’s really nice," said Elynor.
02
Bäckstedt is already a nine-time World Champion
Bäckstedt is already a nine-time world champion
© Leo Francis/Red Bull Content Pool
Bäckstedt's relative youth belies her achievements in the sport already. Across road, cyclocross, and track, she boasts nine world championship titles at junior and under-23 level.
Throw in six additional European titles and nine further national championship victories, and the level of her talent becomes even more staggering. To be able to perform across so many disciplines in such dominant fashion clearly displays Bäckstedt’s potential as a true world beater.
Still only 21, it’s safe to say she has a glittering career ahead of her, and diversifying her disciplines is a surefire way to ensure she keeps enjoying racing.
“You never get bored of riding because you’re always doing something different," she said in an interview with Eurosport. "During the week when I go out training, I’ll be on the MTB, the cross bike, I’ll go out on the road bike, I’ll do a gravel ride, you name it, I’m basically doing it.”
Bäckstedt's nine world title
Zoe Backstedt powers to 2024 UCI CX World Championship victory
© Kristof Ramon/Red Bull Content Pool
- 2021 Junior Road Race
- 2022 Junior Road Race
- 2022 Junior Time Trial
- 2025 U23 Time Trial
- 2022 Junior Cyclocross World Championships
- 2024 U23 Cyclocross World Championships
- 2025 U23 Cyclocross World Championships
- 2025 Cyclocross Mixed Relay
- 2022 Madison (Track)
03
Bäckstedt initially exclled in cyclocross
Bäckstedt didn’t burst onto the scene on smooth tarmac roads or the wooden boards of a velodrome, but rather in the muddy fields of Belgian cyclocross. "The dream conditions are two degrees, raining, just like growing up in Wales," she told the BBC.
First racing with the Elites in the winter of 2020 - making her debut just a few days after she turned 16 - Bäckstedt has racked up some incredible results. Racing up to 26 races each season, she has become a force to be reckoned with; often finishing on the podium of Elite-level World Cups, despite still being an under-23.
Bäckstedt enjoyed huge success in cyclocross as a junior and in the U23s
© Kristof Ramon/Red Bull Content Pool
I’d say I’m probably a classics-type rider. I’m good on short, sharp climbs. Something that’s 30 seconds to one minute max
In fact, in 2021, Bäckstedt made history by becoming the youngest-ever winner of an Elite Belgian cyclocross race when she took the victory in Essen at just 17 years and 78 days old.
Cyclocross necessitates a combination of explosive power, skill, and grit, which often makes CX riders some of the best classics racers in the peloton.
“I’d say I’m probably a classics-type rider," explains Bäckstedt. "I’m good on short, sharp climbs. Something that’s 30 seconds to one minute max. I’m quite punchy, I guess from my cyclocross background. I have quite a lot of skill when it comes to cornering or riding in small gaps and navigating the bunch, and I have a good kick on me.”
We’ve seen many riders successfully transition from Cyclocross to road - the likes of Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert and Blanka Kata Vas to name just a few - and Bäckstedt looks like she’s going to be the next rider to add her name to the list of CX superstars turned road cycling royalty.
04
Chasing medals in the world's most prestigious events
Bäckstedt (far left) is making her Tour de France Femmes debut
© Tim de Waele/Getty Images
Even though her trophy cabinet is bursting at the seams, Bäckstedt is hungry for more success and is targeting victories in some of the world's most prestigious events.
"If I hadn’t been sick in 2024, I would have liked to have also been on the start line in Paris, it just wasn’t my year," she told the BBC. "That was hard to accept but it just made me hungrier to be on the start line in the future."
Perhaps Bäckstedt’s lust for glory stems from her proximity to past Olympic champions when she was growing up in Cardiff. As a young rider, she could often be found training at the iconic Maindy Velodrome - proving ground for the likes of Geraint Thomas and Elinor Barker - both multi-time Olympic medallists.
"It's something cool to see, coming from the same club you are, riding circles around Maindy Velodrome and you're like 'Yeah, if she can do it, I can do it, maybe I can follow in those footsteps'," said Bäckstedt.
“I’d love to go to the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, basically any big event you can name," she said. "I’d like to be there, win it, podium, whatever.”
05
Early success means the future looks bright
When you look at her achievements, it's easy to forget just how young Bäckstedt still is. Although she’s been racing in the Women’s WorldTour since 2023, success at the top level eluded her for a while.
Making her WorldTour debut at the 2023 Omloop Nieuwsblad before cutting her teeth with a full Spring classics campaign, Bäckstedt herself said that winning a race in her debut season would be “virtually impossible.”
Could a Tour de France Femmes stage win be in Backstedt's future?
© Leo Francis/Red Bull Content Pool
However, just six weeks later, she saw firsthand what success in the biggest races looks like when her EF Education-TIBCO-SVB team-mate, Alison Jackson, won the iconic Paris-Roubaix Femmes.
“I looked up to the TV as I came into the velodrome and saw her sprinting…I kept watching and then she started celebrating. I went half a lap thinking, ‘Did she actually do it or not? What’s going on?’ Then I saw my soigneur and she was just screaming at me; then I realised and I started to scream," she said in a 2023 interview. "I did that lap so hard to get back to see her, it was the best thing ever.”
Each season since has seen steady improvement from Bäckstedt, with 2026 proving to be somewhat of a breakthrough, with top-five finishes in Dwars Door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders.
This progression year on year shows that Bäckstedt isn’t just a talented Junior or under-23 who will get lost in the elite ranks; instead, she has all the ingredients to become one of the defining names of her generation.
Her debut at the Tour de France Femmes is an exciting step for Bäckstedt, and with her eyes set on the individual time trial on stage four, she could become a Tour de France Femmes stage winner at her first time of asking.
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