Zoe Bäckstedt is enjoying life on the bike right now, and it's easy to see why. In the last two years alone, the 19-year-old has held multiple junior time trial and road world titles, and followed that up with the under 23 European time trial title last autumn.
If that wasn’t enough, she then stormed to victory - and yet another rainbow jersey - in the women’s under 23 race at the cyclo-cross world championships in February.
She now finds herself at Canyon-SRAM - one of the biggest teams on the women’s WorldTour - and tells Cycling Weekly that her Grand Tour debut is on the horizon.
On Sunday, the Welsh rider will line up for her first appearance at the Vuelta a España Feminina.
"I've got this week in Spain now which is perfect training for it and for a little bit of prep," Bäckstedt says. "It's about getting used to the heat as well, because I can tell you, it's going to be a very warm week on the bike."
Her continued rise to cycling’s elite level will now be fuelled by a certain new sponsor displayed on her helmet which, she says, will definitely give her wings in the races to come.
Bäckstedt recently inked a lucrative new deal to join the likes of Tom Pidcock, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Evie Richards and become a Red Bull-sponsored athlete. She tells Cycling Weekly that the deal had been in the works for several years.
"They contacted my agent, after the Leuven Worlds (2021) I believe actually, then it's just kind of been in the process a bit since then," she says. "I never really knew when I would have the opportunity to sign.
"Then suddenly, it started again, my agent suddenly said we were a week or so away from signing the contract, basically. And then I think most people have seen the video on my Instagram of when Tom Pidcock handed me over the helmet."
"The whole week my dad also was playing along with it," she adds as she reflects on the moment Pidcock himself rocked up in her hotel restaurant in Spain to welcome her to the club. "It had been so long that I'd been waiting for it, I'd been so excited to sign and officially become an athlete and that was that."
Bäckstedt hopes to carry the torch for Red Bull in women’s cycling moving forward. Prior to agreeing the deal, Kata Blanka Vas of SD Worx was the only other Red Bull sponsored athlete in the women’s peloton.
"In women's cycling, there's not so many of us, especially on the road, that have got this helmet," she says. "And off road there's only only a few names.
"So finally being in the world of a Red Bull athlete and having that title, it's super cool to be amongst so many great athletes that have all done so much, pushing limits in every way and pushing themselves to the max."
With the Vuelta firmly on her mind, she explains that her programme is largely decided on a race by race basis at Canyon. Bäckstedt has already ridden huge races like Paris-Roubaix Femmes this year, where she finished 16th, and now has one eye on the Paris Olympics this summer.
"That's for sure something I'd love to go to," she says. "But there's so many good riders in the UK that could also be selected. So we have to fight for all of the slots, maybe it's my year, maybe it isn't.
"In two, three years, I'm going to be wanting to go to the Giro [d'Italia Women], Tour [de France Femmes], Vuelta and want to do all of them… For now, it's just about making sure that I don't do every single race, because yeah, everyone knows I want to do that and is holding me back a little bit so that I don't burn out too quickly or something."
"Ride it like you own the road"
Bäckstedt explains that she is still in the process of discovering exactly what type of rider she is, but says that just maintaining enjoyment on the bike during her big experiences is enough for now.
"You can go to a bike race and be nervous and feel a little bit a little bit scared in the bunch and then you can go to the next race and be like, 'I didn't enjoy the last one, I'm going to just completely change how I look at it, I'm going to just ride it as if as if it was an hour CX race' for me, that's how I look at it, just go full gas at every moment you and just ride your bike, ride it like you own the road, basically."
The 19-year-old wasn’t far behind the winning move at Roubaix and says she continues to watch the likes of Lotte Kopecky closely, ensuring she absorbs much of what the reigning road world champion is currently doing in the sport.
"Everything she does is something I look at and think 'Oh, I'd love to do that'," she says. "But give me two years, maybe three, and that'll be there… There's a lot of riders that are just next level at the moment and something special on the bike. Even within our team, we've got so many riders that I look at and wish I could also be at that stage."
