Zoe Bäckstedt added another U23 European title to her palmares today, winning the cyclo-cross championship in Pont-Chatéau in France. Zoe added the title to her gold medal in the U23 individual time trial in September.

With extreme wind and weather conditions, the European Cyclo-cross championships needed to be condensed into just two days of competition. Zoe had a strong start and led into the first corner. After a close battle for two laps with Luxembourg rider Marie Schreiber, Zoe powered away for a dominant solo win by 34 seconds.

RIDER REACTIONS

Zoe says, “I felt good during the course recon, and I enjoyed the course. It was early in the day, and there would be some races on it after recon, so I expected the course to change a little before my race.

I had a good start, took the holeshot into the first corner, and was able to take my own lines in the first muddy part, too. The plan was to sit in the wheel and wait as late as possible to attack, but I felt good from the start, and it was a power course, so I took the opportunity early on to take the lead.

There were only a couple of parts early in the course that were super muddy, and it was impossible to know which line to take as it was so deep. You could see that there were stones in it, too, making it even harder to judge where to go. It was a ‘ride into it and hope you make it out’ kind of thing!

It feels AWESOME to win the U23 title! Although I can’t race in the jersey in any races, it’s still super cool to have won it. I worked hard for this goal, and I’m really pleased to take this jersey home.”

Zoe’s next cyclo-cross race will be the World Cup in Dendermonde on Sunday 12 November.

Facebook

Twitter