A broken wrist brought a sudden and challenging halt to Zoe Bäckstedt’s cyclo-cross season preparations, but she now has the health and fitness thumbs-up to finally begin racing on knobbly tyres.

The heavy training crash occurred on November 1, just two weeks before Zoe’s originally planned 2025/26 season debut. It forced her to focus solely on indoor training for over a month, but her recovery progressed well, and she was medically cleared to resume outdoor riding on December 9. She then travelled to Lanzarote to feel the wind on her face once more and to complete a quality block of focused on-road training.

Although frustrating, Zoe has taken the setback in her stride.

“The past five or six weeks were tough, mostly because I had to ride on the turbo every day! But at the same time, it made it even more enjoyable when I could ride outside again. In general, I feel like I’m in pretty okay shape, all things considered. For sure, the strength around my wrist isn’t as good as it used to be, but that’s all part of coming back from injury…”

Zoe and her wider support team hoped that she would be able to make a revised return to cyclo-cross before 2026 – a goal she will now achieve at Round 8 of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Dendermonde, Belgium. One week before the event, she returned to the cross bike and off-road terrain without issue.

“It feels so good to be back on the cross bike. I was a bit apprehensive about that first session, but in the end it was nothing to worry about!”

She carries sensible ambitions to Dendermonde.

“For my first race back, my hopes and expectations are not super high – not in a bad way, but I don’t want to put pressure on myself to achieve something that’s not realistic. It’s been a long six weeks watching everyone else racing and I just want to be racing with them. So maybe my first few races back are not great, but just give me some time.”

From there, Zoe will contest seven more cyclo-cross races leading up to, all going to plan, the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships at the end of January. She is not easing into her return, with five of those races packed into just 8 days, before a longer break between World Cup rounds 9 and 10 on January 4 and 18.

Despite the six-week delay to her season, the driven 21-year-old will aim to emulate as much of last winter’s success as possible in the discipline that holds a special place in her heart. Her 2024/25 campaign included three elite UCI World Cup podiums, and she finished the season as UCI U23 Cyclo-cross World Champion for the second consecutive year, further cementing her place among the sport’s strongest competitors.

Speaking about her favourite courses before her wrist injury, Zoe reflected on her two career-best second-place finishes in World Cups last season – races of stark contrast. One delivered pure joy; the other frustration, after a late crash and a costly bike change on the final lap prevented her from regaining contact with the eventual race winner.

“After last year, Zonhoven has to be a favourite now I guess! Personally, that felt like one of my best races of the season. And I believe I have some unfinished business in Maasmechelen.”

Even with a truncated season, Zoe will still have the opportunity to return to both, no doubt inspired by past successes and the chance to make amends.

Zoe Bäckstedt CX Season 2025/26

– Sun, Dec 28: Round 8, UCI World Cup Dendermonde (BEL)

– Mon, Dec 29: X²O Trofee Azencross – Loenhout (BEL)

– Thu, Jan 01: X²O Trofee Baal – GP Sven Nys (BEL)

– Sat, Jan 03: Superprestige Gullegem (BEL)

– Sun, Jan 04: Round 9, UCI World Cup Zonhoven (BEL)

– Sun, Jan 18: Round 10, UCI World Cup Benidorm (ESP)

– Sat, Jan 24: Round 11, UCI World Cup Maasmechelen (BEL)

– Sat, Jan 25: Round 12, UCI World Cup Hoogerheide (NED)

– TBD, Fri, Jan 30: UCI World Championships Hulst (NED)

– TBD, Sat, Jan 31: UCI World Championships Hulst (NED)