Backstedt to make Tour de France Femmes debut
Zoe Backstedt won 15 gold medals on the road, track and cyclo-cross at junior and under-23 level
- Published
British champion Zoe Backstedt has been selected to ride in her first Tour de France Femmes.
The 21-year-old Welsh rider has been one of Canyon-SRAM's most impressive performers of late and will support Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney's bid for a second title.
The Tour's Grand Depart is in Lausanne, Switzerland on 1 August.
Speaking last month, Backstedt said making the Tour would be "incredible" and that she had "goosebumps" just thinking about it.
Her selection follows a memorable June, during which she won British road race and time trial titles and a sprint stage at the Tour de Suisse Femmes.
And then last week Backstedt retained the 2026 Baloise Ladies Tour title a year after becoming the youngest winner of the race.
British champion Backstedt eyes Tour de France debut
- Published29 June
Backstedt is not to be the first member of her family to ride a Tour de France.
Father Magnus rode cycling's most prestigious Grand Tour seven times between 1998 and 2008 - winning a stage on his own Le Tour debut.
Her old sister Elynor is also a professional rider with UAE Team ADQ, while her mum Meg was a British road race champion.
"It really runs in the family to be a cyclist," said Backstedt.
"We always had the choice to go into different sports but everything just led towards cycling and, in the end, I'm so happy that I pursued it."
