Great Britain’s Zoe Backstedt has become the Junior Women’s time trial World Champion after completing the 14.1km course in a blistering time of 18:26.78, 1:35.58 minutes ahead of the silver medal winner, Germany’s Justyna Czapla.
Backstedt now holds the junior women’s world titles in cyclocross, road race, time trial and track (madison).
On her momentous win, Zoe said: “It feels incredible, I really wanted this one, it means a lot. I’ve got one track, the road, I’ve got cyclo-cross and now I’ve got TT (world championship titles). I’m so happy I could pull it off.
“Out on the course my legs were hurting, but that was a good thing because I knew I was going hard and going strong, just trying to hold my power. If I’m honest, there’s no pressure, I’m young and don’t need pressure put on me. If I do then It’s not a good thing to have in your mind. Before the race I just tried to relax out in the sun. Every race I go into, there’s no pressure. If you mess up, you mess up but if you do well then even better. It’s just all about enjoying it.”
On Saturday’s road race, she added: “It’s going to be a tough one; I’m looking forward to it. Now I know what the course is like under a full gas effort, obviously we have a couple more climbs but it’s going to be interesting and fun and very early in the morning! From the time trial course, I think the road course suits me, but there’s some steeper climbs put in for the road race, it’s a little longer, there’s some more corners, so anything could happen on the day as well.”
Header image: Great Britain’s Zoe Backstedt celebrates her 2022 UCI Road World Championships Junior Women’s Time Trial victory in Wollongong, NSW, Australia. Credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com