Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) admitted that her first appearance at a climbing-heavy Tour de France Femmes would be 'brutal', but her dream of earning a team selection had been accomplished. That was just the beginning of a long checklist that included service as a support rider for 2024 Tour champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and flashing the blue and red bands on her Canyon-SRAM jersey as dual British road champion.
The main marker for the nine days was the stage 4 individual time trial. On Tuesday she posted the fourth-best time on the 21km route into Dijon, won by ITT elite world champion Marlen Reusser (Movistar). Though one step off a WorldTour stage podium would make most 21-year-olds radiate joy, Bäckstedt's initial reaction was disappointment.
"Disappointed," was her reaction to the media after the stage. "I always hope for more in a time trial like this. But yeah, give me maybe an hour or so, and I'll come around to the fact that yeah I got fourth in my first Tour de France time trial."
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It wasn't just a matchup of the reigning U23 time trial World Champion against the elite women's World Champion. It was one of the deepest fields of competitors Bäckstedt had ever faced. Multi-time Dutch time trial medalist Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished just four seconds behind Reusser for the runner-up spot.
What may have stung the most was getting bumped from the podium by two seconds by former Tour winner Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ). Vollering pulverised the mid-race descent from the time check on the climb of Lacets de Marsannay, gaining five seconds on Reusser to take third on the stage, and in the process knocking the young Briton off the podium.
"I did a super good power for the first half, and then yeah, the second half where we went on the downhill, it was really quick. I was going above 85 [kph], and at that point it's letting the speed do the work," she reflected.
"You can't really do anything extra, you know. Like I was maxing out the gears already, just letting the speed do the work."
She had the third-best intermediate time of the 138 starters, with only Reusser and Nooijen going faster once up the gradual 2km climb averaging 6.7%. In fact, the split time for Reusser was 15:10, with Nooijen 19.5 seconds back and Bäckstedt less than a half-second away from the Dutch woman's time. In the end, only those three riders and Vollering posted times under 28 minutes.
Any questions about adding Bäckstedt to the Canyon-SRAM roster were answered after her double road and TT titles in the British Nationals when she claimed her debut WorldTour road race victory at the Tour de Suisse. She followed the stage 3 win with another podium on stage 4, going second to Reusser.
For good measure, Bäckstedt then won the GC title at the Baloise Ladies Tour for a second consecutive year.
A full week before racing began at the Tour, the British rider confirmed that "time trialling is the one thing that suits me the most. I think it’s [stage 4] going to be my favourite stage of the whole race, and it’s where I want to shine".
Her definition of 'shine' may not have played out as planned, but later assessment should confirm that this fourth was a bright light. And in the process, she took pressure off team leader Niewiadoma for one day, her teammate finishing 13th and moving up two spots in GC to sixth.
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