Elite debutant finishes third in the UAE Tour just five days after cyclo-cross World Championship

Bäckstedt hadn’t raced a full cyclo-cross winter, after breaking her wrist in November and only making her off-road return in late December at Dendermonde. After seven top-ten finishes from eight cross races, she made the call to step up at Worlds: following two straight U23 world titles, she wanted to test herself against the elite women in Hulst.

That move paid off immediately. Bäckstedt finished seventh and remained in the fight for bronze deep into the race, even if the established hierarchy ultimately held firm. Once she crossed the line on Saturday afternoon, the next challenge began: turning around fast enough to start her road season in the desert.

Bäckstedt’s presence at the UAE Tour Women stood out, because the opening stage was already raced on Thursday in high temperatures. Still, the British all-rounder made it work, joining a CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto line-up that includes riders such as Neve Bradbury and Kasia Niewiadoma for the WorldTour stage race.

And on day one, Bäckstedt immediately delivered a superb result. Lorena Wiebes won as expected, but behind the Dutch sprinter and Ireland’s Lara Gillespie, Bäckstedt sprinted to third place. “Unexpected, but not surprising,” her team wrote in a social media post. Through the official channels of CANYON//SRAM, the protagonist also had her own say.

It was Bäckstedt’s first podium finish on a WorldTour road stage outside of time trials. Speaking via the team’s official channels, she admitted she didn’t see it coming at all. “⁠⁠It was a bit chaotic in the final, and Tata and I lost Chiara at a bad moment – the original plan was to sprint for her! In the end, I found a few small gaps to be able to get through to the front, and I just had to sprint!”

“It was very much an ‘in the moment’ kind of thing, but when I knew I could get through I decided to go for it. The first thing I thought when I crossed the line was ‘oh, I hope I threw my bike hard enough’ because it was close for third place!” Bäckstedt also pointed to the fact that the legs were already there before she even got to the UAE, referencing the team’s training camp in Gandia and her late-season cyclo-cross block. “Today’s result quite possibly exceeded my expectations,” she said. “I knew after the Maasmechelen/Hoogerheide weekend that my legs were good, and even after Worlds, I’m happy with how they could feel in the end!”