Zoe Backstedt on moving to Belgium to focus on her career - “It feels a bit strange, the environment of home I’ll miss a little bit"

In the competitive world of cycling, Zoe Backstedt stands out as a prodigious young talent, having achieved the rare feat of winning titles in three distinct disciplines in 2022, namely cyclo-cross, track, and road. With a steely determination to excel, she has made the decision to move to Belgium and focus exclusively on her cycling career.

“It feels a bit strange,” she told Eurosport. She continues, “You don’t expect to fully move out of the house at 18. It’s what I want to be doing, it’s where I need to be. I made the decision because if you’re not in Belgium for cyclo-cross, it’s impossible.”

The British rider had to make the tough choice of leaving behind her comfort zone, including the support of her friends and family members and it's no wonder she feels homesick sometimes. “The environment of home I’ll miss a little bit. My friends all live within three minutes of each other so it’s perfect. We meet at the middle house, and everything is good. I’ll miss them, my family, my grandparents.”

The young cyclist owes her impressive abilities to her parents, her mother, who was a Welsh cyclist and her father, Magnus Backstedt, a Paris-Roubaix champion. Magnus has watched his daughter flourish as a rider and is proud of her achievements, but as a parent, he also misses her dearly. “To spend this time with your kids, you never get that time back. To have that last winter, we spent so much time together to have that time and connection, it means so much to me,” concluded Magnus.