18-year-old Welsh prodigy Zoe Bäckstedt ready for step up to professional level - "It is something I look forward to"

Zoe Bäckstedt has cycling success running through her veins. Her father Magnus is a former Paris-Roubaix winner and her mother Megan is a former British national road race champion. Now, after dominating in the youth ranks, Zoe herself is preparing to take the step up to the professional level with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB.

"You can be the best at the junior level but then you can be the lowest at the WorldTour level. There is a big step there, but it is something I look forward to.” Bäckstedt says. “It is not necessarily a year for me to go ‘I want to be winning this’ because I don’t believe that is possible as an 18-year-old in the WorldTour ranks. The first year is definitely going to be a learning year and see how it goes.”

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Having been a world champion at the junior level on the road, time trial, cyclocross, and track, it would be understandable if Bäckstedt had a little doubt as to where her future best lays. When asked what her favourite discipline is she said, "my favourite discipline at the moment is probably road. I am enjoying doing some long miles on the bike, being in the hills, and being in the sunshine. But my fondest discipline is definitely cyclocross."

With her sister Elynor also riding in the peloton for Trek-Segafredo some sibling rivalry could also come into play this year. “It is going to be cool next year coming into the road races and having someone there I know who will look after me but also knowing when it does come down to leading someone into a sprint or something like that then neither of us will be backing out of it.”

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Finally, with the Paris Olympics on the horizon, Bäckstedt is expected to be a key player in the Team GB lineup. She's not getting ahead of herself however. "We have to see how I am going. If I get selected. Everything like this,” said Zoe. "You can’t just say ‘I am going there’ because I am still very young. There are a lot of good riders in the UK. So, we have to wait and see on that one.”