Zoe
Backstedt
United Kingdom
·
Cycling
Date of birth | 24 September 2004 |
|---|---|
Age | 22 |
Nationality | United Kingdom |
Discipline | Road Cycling |
Growing up in a small village just outside of Cardiff in Wales, Zoe Bäckstedt was quickly introduced to the world of cycling by her parents. Her father Magnus won the famed Paris-Roubaix race and her mother, Megan Hughes, was also a professional cyclist.
Despite growing up in a cycling-centric family – her sister, Elynor, is also a professional cyclist – Zoe initially enjoyed playing netball and tennis, and it was only at the age of 10 that she decided to solely concentrate on pursuing a career on two wheels.
Making an impression in the junior ranks
The decision certainly proved to be the correct one as Zoe quickly began to impress in the junior ranks. She racked up numerous national titles before making her mark on the world scene in 2020 when she won a Junior UCI World Cup race, having turned 16 just two months previously.
2021 then proved to be a breakout year for the young rider as she impressed across numerous disciplines. At the UCI Road World Championships, she claimed gold in the junior women’s road race and silver in the junior time trial. She also set a new junior individual pursuit world record and was part of a team pursuit world record riding squad.
World Championship success
Her remarkable rise continued in 2022 when Zoe defended her road race title and upgraded her junior time trial silver to gold at the World Championships. She then won a second world junior title, this time in the cyclocross discipline, before making it a hat-trick of world titles in different disciplines by winning the madison at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships.
Having stepped up to the Under-23 category in 2023, Zoe made the big decision to relocate to Belgium. The move quickly paid dividends as she secured two silver medals at the Cyclocross World Championships.
Zoe claimed gold in the 2024 UCI Cyclocross World Championships under-23 women’s race, backing it up in 2025 with her second successive U23 title.
Excelling on the road
Proving why she's a threat across multiple disciplines, Zoe won the U23 individual time trial at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships before claiming her first professional general classification title at the Baloise Ladies Tour, becoming the youngest winner in the race’s history.
The following year, Zoe claimed her first UCI Women’s WorldTour stage win at the Tour de Suisse. She also won the British elite road race and time trial national titles, becoming just the third rider to win the race in conesutive years.
A Tour de France Femmes debut and World Championship silver
Zoe made her Tour de France Femmes debut with Canyon//SRAM in 2026, completing the nine-stage race from Lausanne to Nice. Her standout performance came in the stage four individual time trial, as she missed out on a podium place by just two seconds.
The British rider carried her strong form through to the UCI Road World Championships in Montréal as she powered through the technical 39.2-kilometre course to claim a silver medal behind Marlen Reusser of Switzerland in the elite time trial.
"In the first half, when I heard the first time check, I was thinking, 'OK, maybe it's possible [I can win]'. But I also knew that Marlen was super strong and that she has a very big engine," Zoe said after the race. "So I knew that it was possible that she would bring a lot of time back on me and she did, so massive respect to her."
Still at the very start of her career, it seems only a matter of time before the Welsh rider is chasing world titles at senior level, whether that’s on the track, the road or cyclocross.