Zoe Bäckstedt: 'My hands were completely ruined but it's Paris-Roubaix, you don't give up'

Some 20 years on from her father's victory in the 2004 Paris-Roubaix, Zoe Bäckstedt of Canyon-SRAM displayed the same never-say-die spirit on the cobbles of northern France on Saturday afternoon.

Riding to 16th place in Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift after a bruising - but commendable - day in the saddle, the British youngster had no doubts that she would leave everything on the road between Denain and the finish.

"It's Roubaix, if you're trying to fight for top 20, you never give up on that so you've got to just go as hard as you can and just try to get there," she told GCN and a small group of reporters shortly after the finish.

The 19-year-old could not help but smile as she gathered her thoughts and hugged friends in the middle of the velodrome, her body weeping with pain after 148.4 hellish kilometres, but her spirit remarkably undefeated.

"My hands were completely ruined from basically the first sector so towards the end I was really struggling with holding on and then just trying to dig as deep as I can," she revealed.

"After 120/130km of cobbles, your legs are dead and your body is dead. So it was really just a case of trying to hold on for as long as possible and digging in."

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Hold on she did, doggedly battling to remain within the chasing group that was in pursuit of Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and co out front. Saturday's race was perhaps the most attritional edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes since Lizzie Deignan's win in 2021.

Bäckstedt herself was spat out of the back of the chasing pack with the Roubaix velodrome coming into view, but the youngster valiantly put her head down and powered her way back into the group that was led over the line by Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) in seventh.

There were few attacks that made hay off the front; instead, the speed of the day gradually increased as the finish came into sight, sending riders out of the back of the bunch and thinning the group naturally. Bäckstedt could not follow the eventual four-up attack from Kopecky, Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek), Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Amber Kraak (FDJ-SUEZ), but she can take confidence from being part of the action throughout the course of the day.

"It was kind of what you'd expect for that part of Roubaix. How do I explain it? It was like everyone just fighting for the last 300m before a sector, so it was what you'd imagine, what you'd predict, and it's really cool to be in that situation.

"I've not been in that position before in any race, let alone Roubaix, so it really makes me believe that one day I can do it. I just really enjoyed it."

Bäckstedt proud of her Canyon-SRAM teammates

Although Canyon-SRAM could not join those four riders up the road, nor Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm-firmenich PostNL) when the pair bridged across to the race-winning move, the German team can be content with having half of their team close to the front of proceedings for most of the day.

"We had three riders, that was as good as we can do. We start only with six, so we had one rider who had to change her bike and change her wheel because she had punctures, so you just do what you can and I think we made a good race out of it," said Bäckstedt.

• Read more: Paris-Roubaix Femmes - Race report & results

Over the line, Bäckstedt's teammate Elise Chabbey finished in 11th, taking home Canyon-SRAM's best result from the day. The Swiss rider and Bäckstedt performed strongly to remain in the second group, but the Brit was quick to heap the praise on their teammates Soraya Paladin, Alice Towers and Tiffany Cromwell, all of whom played an important role earlier in the day.

"Tiff was here for long as she could and helped out as much as she could, and was just super strong all day. Elise was just a beast and just bossed it, credit to Alice and Soraya as well for hanging in as long as possible, even on a bad day."

With her pen put to paper on a deal with Canyon-SRAM through 2026, Bäckstedt will certainly be a rider to watch at Paris-Roubaix Femmes over the years to come. Still only 19 years of age, the Welshwoman might soon be placing her own cobblestone on the family mantlepiece next to that of her father, Magnus Bäckstedt.

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