Zoe Bäckstedt storms to victory in British elite women's national time trial championships

Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com - 26/06/2025 - Cycling - 2025 Lloyds National Time Trial Championships - Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales - Elite Women - Zoe Backstedt (CANYON // SRAM Racing Team) — Bäckstedt en route to victory at the British national time trial championships (Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix)

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) powered to her first elite title at the British national road championships in the time trial on Thursday, beating defending champion Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) by 20 seconds in Wales.

Still just 20, Welsh rider Bäckstedt stormed through the 27km course in a time of 38:48 on home roads, stopping the clock in Abearon with an average speed of 42.7kph.

Defending champion Henderson was the last off the start ramp, but was unable to claim her third British elite women's ITT title. She was the only rider within a minute of Bäckstedt, with third-place Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL) finishing 1:27 slower.

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Georgi momentarily had the lead, only for Bäckstedt to rip through the hilly course in Ceredigion and break the 40-minute barrier, by quite a margin, for the first time in the time trial.

Henderson did similarly, but could not pull back the 31-second deficit she entered the second sector with on Bäckstedt, riding a faster second half but still finishing 20 seconds down.

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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.

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