Zoe Backstedt interview: A Classique family affair for teenage cycling star
When Zoe Backstedt lines up for her first senior race in front of her home crowd at Friday’s start of the Ride London Classique, in her ear will be her father, Magnus.
A winner of a Tour de France stage and the prestigious Paris-Roubaix, he is also sporting director at Team Canyon-SRAM, where the younger of his pro peloton daughters plies her trade.
Both dad and mum — Megan Hughes was also a leading cyclist — remain sounding boards; so, too, sister Elynor, three years older than the 19-year-old and also in the field.
"It's really fun having my sister in the peloton," said Backstedt. "We're often asked if we're competing, but we're mostly supporting each other. We do slightly different roles within our teams, so we're not always fighting against each other, but meeting each other at the finish.
I still pick the brains of my parents. My dad is in my ear, telling me what to do
Zoe Backstedt
"And I still pick the brains of my parents. My dad is the DS (directeur sportif) in the car for me, so he's in my ear, telling me what to do. I have his experience every day I race, so every minute of every race I'm always learning from him. And then there's my mum. I ask her so much about how she was as a rider and what best to do for me. Just having support from them all is really nice."
Backstedt is the latest star turn off the conveyor belt of talent at British Cycling. A junior world champion in both the road race and time trial in 2021 and 2022, she is hotly tipped to translate that form to the senior ranks.
Despite the fanfare, she said: "I don't see much expectation from the outside. I want to do well in every race, but I still have to learn. I'm finding my way in the peloton and experiencing and learning from all my team-mates."
A latecomer to the saddle, she preferred other sports growing up in Wales prior to cycling, which she turned to more readily aged 10 — and quickly realised she had an aptitude for it.
So meteoric has been her rise, she even has half an eye on this summer's Olympics. For the next few days of a race which ends on the Mall on Sunday, however, expectations are more modest. "It's just to finish," she said.
