BÄCKSTEDT WINS HER THIRD SIMAC YOUTH JERSEY, CONSONNI FOURTH IN FINAL STAGE

A potentially chaotic and decisive final stage was brought under control at the Simac Ladies Tour, albeit with the inherent unpredictability of a mass sprint.

After a second-place finish on stage four, Chiara Consonni was once again mixing it up in the sprinters’ melee, but lacked the legs to fully unleash, narrowly pipped by Balsamo (LTK) for the final spot on the stage six podium.

Further down the bunch, Zoe Bäckstedt finished safely inside the top 20, sealing her victory in the youth classification for the third consecutive year. With a palmarès as impressive as Zoe’s at just 20 years old, one might assume that the youth jersey win is a mere formality, but she clearly still takes pride in the achievement.

“A jersey is a jersey, and it was not easy to win it. It was all down to my time trial yesterday and then just trying to hold onto it today. After my crash, the girls helped me so much to get back into the group and up to the front – a really big thanks to them.”

Her standout time trial performance on day five not only delivered a sensational victory but also propelled her up the general classification. Starting the day 11th +1:24 mins on Wiebes (SDW), she climbed to fourth, level on time with Jastrab (TPP) and reducing her deficit on the overall lead to 51 seconds. However, just behind, the in-form Vigié was a slender five seconds back in fifth.

Overhauling the dominant Dutch powerhouse would have required a herculean effort, yet second place Balsamo (LTK) was still only three seconds ahead. With an unpredictable 160 kilometre stage looming, the podium was within tantalising reach. Twisting, narrow roads and seven gravel sectors guaranteed a demanding conclusion, and as the old cycling cliché goes, anything could happen.

Zoe reflects on the stage, which indeed proved to be far from straightforward.

“We started the day planning to be attacking in the finale, but we didn’t have the best of luck. I crashed on the gravel quite early, with around 110km to go, landing hard on my rear. It was painful to get out of the saddle, and by the end I felt I didn’t have the legs to do anything. We then put our hopes on Chiara in the sprint.”

It wasn’t smooth sailing for eventual fourth-place finisher Chiara either. At the 50km-to-go mark, coinciding with the end of the gravel, she suffered a puncture. Thankfully, she was able to quickly rejoin the peloton, which had taken a brief reprieve after the off-road intensity.

Onto the final two laps of the 13km finishing circuit, the peloton largely stayed together. A series of attacks were launched, but as on stage four, and despite today’s tricky parcours, the sprint teams were firmly in control.

This scenario, combined with not feeling her best physically, meant Zoe was unable to gain any seconds on the road. She therefore stayed level on time with Jastrab (TPP) in the overall GC, but remained fourth on countback. Despite the near miss, she stayed upbeat.

“Considering the second day when we lost a lot of time, to bring it back to joint third, or fourth overall, basically thanks to yesterday’s time trial, makes me really happy with this week.”

A silver lining from the bunch sprint outcome was that her youth classification win was all but secure, something she was prepared to fight for if necessary.

“I was confident that I could keep hold of it. I had a nice buffer, so it was just about staying with the front group and making sure that if Cat [Ferguson, MOV] attacked, I could try to be with her. My eyes were more on the final GC, but it’s still nice to win the jersey three years in a row.”

With two more years of eligibility in the U23 ranks, and back-to-back wins in the often decisive Simac Ladies Tour time trial, it won’t be a surprise to see Zoe secure the white jersey again in the coming years, or even add the overall yellow to her palmarès.