Zoe Backstedt: women's cycling could be 'unstoppable' with full live coverage
Zoe Backstedt said women's cycling would be "unstoppable" if races such as the Tour de France Femmes received full live television coverage after she made her debut in the event last week. The 21-year-old Welsh rider made the comments following her appearance for Canyon-SRAM, in a race where Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney finished second behind champion Demi Vollering.
Backstedt urged broader broadcast coverage after only three of the nine stages of this year's Tour de France Femmes were shown live in full. "There was a lot of screaming and shouting about the women's Tour de France this year, and it was incredible to see," she said. "The only thing we need from now on is full coverage line to line." She added: "I think once we finally get full coverage of the race, then we're going to be unstoppable, 100%." Earlier in 2026 Backstedt won the British road race and time trial titles, took a sprint stage at the Tour de Suisse Femmes and retained the Baloise Ladies Tour.
Backstedt delivered a strong effort in the stage four time trial but finished fourth, "maybe not the result I wanted or hoped for," she said. She was "just two seconds behind Vollering" and described the outcome as "super close," adding: "I have high expectations of myself and I really wanted to do at least a podium. So to say I want a podium but get fourth, it's super close. But it is what it is. It was the legs on the day, and I think coming around to it, it's still a really, really good result."
On the final day Backstedt pushed the pace and helped reduce the peloton to 11 riders as she attempted to isolate the rivals of Niewiadoma-Phinney, finishing 50th overall in the general classification. "I got halfway up and I was like, 'I'm done, I'm done - I can't do it anymore'," Backstedt recalled. "They were like 'yeah, you're doing really good, there's people getting dropped here'. I was like, 'oh OK, I will continue'." She said teammates' updates helped her to keep going: "I've got three kilometres to the top or something, I can do this. It's going to be less than 10 minutes. Just keep pushing the pedals."
Reflecting on the week as her second Grand Tour experience, Backstedt said: "It was a super-hard week, but honestly, I really enjoyed it. "I'm happy with how I performed the whole week. I learned a lot. I maybe made some mistakes but, most importantly, I gave 120% every day for my team-mates. "I had a lot of fun and I would definitely do it again." She and her elder sister Elynor have followed their father Magnus into professional cycling.
Backstedt will aim to build on that experience at the 2026 Tour of Britain Women, a race that begins in Cumbria, includes two stages in Wales and ends on Sunday, 23 August; it will feature five stages for the first time. "One extra day of racing, it's nice to do a five-day stage race and you can cover a lot more ground of the UK in that time," she said. "And then to have it equalling the men's race is also super nice. We are moving in a very good direction in women's sport." Commonwealth Games medallists Anna Morris and Jess Roberts, who both won bronze in the team pursuit with Morris adding two golds and Roberts silver in the points race, will also compete for the Great Britain Cycling Team.
Backstedt also commented on the death of fellow British rider Finlay Tarling, who died following a collision with a van on the 166.8km eighth stage of the Volta a Portugal from Melgaco to Fafe last Friday. "It's super sad and I'm thinking every day of the Tarling family," she said. "Growing up we were quite close with them, so when I heard the news it really hit hard and I can't even begin to imagine what they're going through. "But the support I've seen online towards them and from so many different cyclists around the world, I really hope that they're feeling the love that the cycling community is giving. Everyone is thinking of them at this time. "As cyclists, we never want to see anything like this happen and it's awful almost how often it's happening at the moment. Something maybe needs to change to have this stop."
On Wednesday Backstedt will target more success when the 2026 Tour of Britain Women begins, aiming to apply the experience she gained in the Tour de France Femmes as she competes over the five-stage event that finishes on 23 August.