VICTORY FOR ZOE! BACK-TO-BACK SIMAC TIME TRIAL TRIUMPHS

Adorned in the British National Champion stripes, Zoë Backstedt rocketed to victory in the WorldTour Simac Ladies Tour stage five time time, covering the 10.4-kilometre course in a scorching 12:34 minutes.

We won’t make you do the maths, but that’s an impressive 48.7 kilometres per hour – a speed that gave Zoe a 6-second margin over Schweinberger (FDC) and a further 17 seconds back to van Dijk (LTK).

This win follows her maiden WorldTour victory at the same race in 2024, in a time trial of similar length but on the opening rather than penultimate day. It also extends Zoe’s 2025 consecutive time-trial victory streak to four, following wins at the British National Time Trial Championships and the Baloise Ladies Tour Prologue & Time Trial.

Zoe was understandably delighted with her performance.

“It’s a really nice feeling. It’s not often that we get to race time trials in stage races. The last one was Burgos and that was maybe a bit too much for me, but it was a nice feeling to win today and it brought back some memories from Simac last year as well.”

She admitted that she didn’t go into the race expecting to win but rather approached it with an open mind.

“I wasn’t necessarily doubting, but there are also already some hard days of racing behind us. You never really know what to expect or how your legs are going to feel on day five of a stage race. We’ve had some super hard echelons and wind. I wasn’t doubting myself, but for sure there are also some strong time trial riders here that could have pulled it out of the bag as well.”

Execution was key, and Zoe felt that she nailed it.

“I believe I hit my power target for the whole ride so yeah, I’m super happy with that and I had a really good feeling in my legs during the stage.”

Although she is yet to be formally selected, Zoe’s next time trial focus is currently the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, later this month.

“Worlds will for sure be a goal and then I’ll already be looking towards the cyclo-cross season. The Worlds Time Trial is a similar course to nationals in terms of the distance to elevation ratio. Worlds is a little bit shorter and a little less climbing, which hopefully can come out in in my favour. But then again, who knows what could happen when you get there and are racing at altitude, especially when you’ve done such a long travel.” 

Before that, there’s one final stage of Simac Ladies Tour to attend to. Sunday offers up a 160km showdown featuring seven gravel sectors and long stretches of narrow, exposed roads, with the forecast already predicting significant wind. The notorious Dutch gales have already lived up to their billing, producing two days of major peloton splits. Zoe missed the front selection on stage two but rectified her mistakes on stage three by making the decisive GC group. She entered today’s time trial sitting 11th overall – the same time as fifth place and the youth classification leader, yet 1:24 behind race leader Wiebes (SDW).

After today’s individual effort, she impressively climbs seven places to fourth on GC, level on time with third-placed Jastrab (TPP). Last year she secured third on GC and has claimed the youth classification for the past two years – a jersey that she now leads once again.

Tomorrow’s unpredictable finale will demand not only Zoe’s physical strength but also peak focus and alertness. With a strong team behind her, she’ll aim to at least consolidate her classification positions.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Stage 6 | Sat, Sept 07 | Lichtenvoorde – Lichtenvoorde | 159.3km | 333m elevation | Start: 12:00 – Finish: 15:42 CET. LIVE from 14:30.

Live coverage available on Eurosport, Max and NOS. Stay updated on X with #SLT2025, and follow CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto’s social channels for team updates.