Simac Women Tour: Zoe Bäckstedt nets first professional victory in stage 1 time trial

Picture 1 of 14

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) in yellow(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)

Up-and-coming British racer Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) took a breakthrough first skilled victory in stage 1 of the Simac Women Tour, a ten.1km time trial beginning and ending in Gennep.

Clocking a time of 12:40, Bäckstedt beat Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) by seven seconds and a number of former World TT Champion Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) by eight seconds.

“I actually shocked myself, I got here simply to have some enjoyable and see what I might do at present, and apparently that was sufficient to win the stage, so I’m actually joyful,” Bäckstedt mentioned when her victory was sure.

Describing the out-and-back course, Bäckstedt added that “There have been plenty of straights and that was actually good for me.”

Trying forward, she identified that “This week can be a superb preparation for my cyclo cross season. Hopefully I can do some extra good ends in the approaching week.”

Teniel Campbell (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) set the primary actual benchmark with 13:19 however solely stayed within the hotseat for a couple of minutes till Nooijen completed in 12:47 to take over within the lead.

Rider after rider couldn’t match that point, with Van Dijk coming simply 0.16 seconds quick. Prime sprinters Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) can have their work reduce out within the remaining 5 levels in the event that they need to transfer up in GC via time bonuses: Kool completed in 13:22, with Balsamo ten seconds slower.

Dutch ITT champion Riejanne Markus (Visma-Lease a Bike) additionally slotted in behind her teammate Nooijen with 13:09, however Bäckstedt then took seven seconds off the clock to set the brand new main time.

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), sporting her new European ITT champion’s skinsuit, completed in 12:51. Anna Henderson (Visma-Lease a Bike) completed in 13:04 minutes which turned out to be the quickest time behind Kopecky.

Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck) fell wanting Bäckstedt’s time with 13:09, and so did Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) who clocked 13:13. Ally Wollaston (AG-Soudal) and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) have been the final two starters, and neither of them might threaten Bäckstedt who might have a good time her first skilled victory. Throughout her closing kilometre, Wiebes even needed to evade an on a regular basis bike owner who had by some means received on the race course: happily, neither of them crashed.