🏆 European Championships Pontchâteau WU 🇪🇺 🥇 🇬🇧 Zoe Backstedt 🥈 🇱🇺 Marie Schreiber 🥉 🇨🇿 Kristyna Zemanová 4 🇳🇱 Bentveld 5 🇳🇱 Molengraaf 6 🇫🇷 Onesti 7 🇧🇪 Van Sinaey 8 🇧🇪 Brouwers 9 🇨🇿 Hladiková 10 🇮🇹 Borghesi ➡️ Results: bit.ly/3skQfUl #EuroCross23
"In my head it was: gold or I'm having a bad day" - Zoe Bäckstedt stamps authority with European Championships victory
CyclocrossSunday, 05 November 2023 at 13:36
Great Britain is looking to headline once again Cyclocross and Zoe Bäckstedt is another of it's big weapons. The 19-year old put on a dominant performance to win the women's under-23 title at the European Championships.
"It wasn't my intention to ride off on my own after two laps. The plan was to just stay in Marie [Schreiber]'s wheel and only leave when she was absolutely dead," Bäckstedt said in a post-race interview. "So I left much earlier than expected, although I felt very strong. It really was a course for the powerhouses, so that suits me. In that respect, I would like to thank the organization for planning this race."
It was a comfortable win. Baring disaster, the supertalent was going to be heading towards a victory, not unexpected as she was the main favourite. "In my head it was: gold or I'm having a bad day," she stated. "It was a good day, because I walk away with the jersey in a strong under 23 field. A podium finish would also have been great, but I always have high ambitions."
She won't wear this jersey often as she competes among the Elites, but the title is in her palmarès. She reveals some of the plans for the upcoming months: "I do the entire cross-season, but plan some training camps in between. I will miss some racing before the Christmas period, but I will continue from Christmas until the World Championships. I'm going to fight for the U23 World Cup jersey. I can still improve, so we'll see how I perform after training camp."
At a very young age, she is being compared to other rising - and already dominating - talents Fem van Empel and Puck Pieterse who thrive over multiple disciplines. Bäckstedt doesn't think she is already capable of beating the Dutch duo, but will in the coming years reach that level.
"I need age, to race a little longer. I'm only nineteen years old, so I have time to get there and hopefully win against Fem and Puck and all the others. That's the goal, but give me one more season and then we'll see what happens," she concluded.
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- When MVDP or Wout shows up, they literally destroy the field. Its awesome, lol. That's the only time I watch cross..
ScottG19-11-2024 - It will be just a waste of time to finish out of the podium. Giro Vuelta makes a better choiceabstractengineer19-11-2024
- I would agree, top 3 with Remco improving and snapping at his heels. I just wish he wouldn't keep crashing in the TDF.Pedalmasher19-11-2024
- Backstedt and Schreiber are not juniors they are under 23. There were I think about 7 or 8 juniors in this race. Under the current rules a race that has juniors in can't go over 45 minutes. The winning time was 43.53 so the timing was correct. The organisers are in the wrong because they should be putting on a juniors race and then we wouldn't be in this situation as the timings for the elite race would be 50 minutes, not 45.NorrisHippocampe19-11-2024
- It's everywhere. Just like it was before. But we can just pretend it isn't. Just like we did before.Sweep19-11-2024
- Not a top 4 GT rider? He's got more GT wins (just not at the Tour) than any viable active rider (Froome not included). Were it not for his team messing it up for him, he'd have won the Vuelta even more often. He's a bizarrely accident prone, deeply conservative rider, but it delivers. He's also one of the best 1-week GC riders in the peloton. The man may not be Pogacar or Vingegaard (who is?), but he is definitely in the top 3 of the field, right now.RidesHills19-11-2024
- Nobody is saying that he is tin he Top 4 GT riders but nobdy is also saying he is capable of winning the TDF in the presence of Pog and Jonas. He was already fairly blown away before his crash and if we assume that Bora hired him to win the TDF, then it would not be considered a success. That he won the Vuelta only make it not a total fail.abstractengineer19-11-2024
- "The viewing and visitor figures are both better than when they were riding" - what a BS. Please compare (and only then) visitor figures during current season vs when WvA and MvdP are back in December (hopefully!) otherwise you are comparing oranges to apples.averagecyclist19-11-2024
- I counted 16 riders under 24 out of 43 that started. Once was only 16 ! Two of the top riders are Zoe and Schreiber and both under 23 yet that have done 50 min races in the past with the elites so I think it's just bad clock management. Let them race 50 freakin' minutes! One more lap could have made a big dffierence most times in the podium and winner.frieders319-11-2024
- He needs to finish out his contract and then go hit MTB and Cross/Gravel really hard, that's where his heart is.awp18-11-2024