After a year that’s bristled with feats of cycling prowess – both at home and on the international stage – the winners of our 2022 Awards can finally be revealed
As her father and 2004 Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus potters around behind her, Zoe Bäckstedt struggles to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes her so much better than other 18-year-olds. She does, after all, have not one but four world titles to her name right now.
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you,” she explains to CW from her winter home in the Flemish countryside. “I get part of my cycling skills from my parents, obviously my dad winning Roubaix, my mum being national road champion, things like that. It’s useful having a cycling family as my background, but I put a lot of hard work into my riding, training and racing.”
Bäckstedt doesn’t get an off-season like other riders. For her, the racing never really stops.
“If I were just a road rider, I’d probably have a month off and then go
