Zoe Bäckstedt finished third today at the Simac Ladies Tour with a phenomenal time trial performance. Starting ninth in the general classification, Zoe stormed around the 7.1km course in Leuven, Belgium, in a time of 9 minutes and 10 seconds. The CANYON//SRAM Racing rider continues to impress in her debut race for the team.

Zoe takes over the lead in the youth classification from teammate Maike van der Duin, who held the jersey for the first two days. She jumps to fifth in the general classification, 15 seconds behind stage winner and new tour leader Lotte Kopecky (SDW), and leads the youth classification by 10 seconds.

Zoe said, “The course had similar parts from the Junior World Championships in Leuven in 2021, so that gave me some good memories, and it was cool to be back here. I took on the advice of our team coaches for how I paced the course, to make sure I didn’t go too deep on the climb and I had something left for the last four kilometres, which was basically a long straight road and a final kicker.”

“I’m happy with how I could put the strategy into practice. I had some good encouragement on the radio from Dani, and when I got to the last kicker, I could stay in the skis and then sprinted to the line after the last corner.”

“I’m really happy to get third place against some big hitters. When I got told I had the fastest time with eight riders still to go, I didn’t realise it. Then Lotte came and went under nine minutes. I’m happy with my ride and that we keep the young rider jersey.”

“Tomorrow is a typical flat stage, with a lot of small roads and corners! In the last three kilometres, it’s dead straight until the final 500m, so we can expect a fight, and we want to go for the stage win.”

HOW TO WATCH

The Simac Ladies Tour can be followed on X with #SLT2023. A live broadcast is on GCN and Eurosport.

Stage 3 | 149km | Emmeloord – Lelystad | 12:00CEST | Broadcast 14:30CEST

Stage 4 | 131.6km | Valkenburg | 13:00CEST | Broadcast 14:30CEST

Stage 5 | 150.5km | Arnhem | 12:15CEST | Broadcast 14:25CEST

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