Zoe Backstedt well prepared for time trial at Tour de Frances Femmes avec Zwift - 'It's hoping the legs show up'
Published 03/08/2026 at 23:12 GMT+1
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Zoe Backstedt insists she is well prepared for Tuesday's time trial at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and just hopes "the legs show up" after a gruelling Stage 3. Looking ahead to the 21km time trial, from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon, the Canyon-SRAM rider was asked whether she had seen the course yet or would wait until the morning.
Highlights: Haugset soloes to sublime Stage 3 win to take yellow jersey
Video credit: TNT Sports
"I've been there already," Backstedt told TNT Sports' Matt Stephens. "I've done a few laps so I know everything that's going on. I can visualise everything in my head, every single corner.
"So I've done the necessary preparation, now it's just hoping that the legs show up."
Monday's Stage 3 was gruelling, largely owing to the very high temperatures. Stephens said it "looked like an oven out there" for the competitors.
"It was, it really was," Backstedt said. "We were riding down some of the descents and the wind was so hot on you.
"It honestly felt a bit like you were trapped in a sauna and you had no escape from it.
"I did what I could to cool myself down, but after five minutes of the first climb, you're already almost overheating from that.
"If you saw me there, I had my arms all the way up, my sleeves all the way up, my jersey up, I was just trying to get as much air in me as possible the whole day.
"I wanted to make it over the first climb, so I wasn't stressed all day about making the time cut. I found it quite OK on the first climb and the second one was also OK.
"There were a few moments towards the middle to the end of the race when I was struggling a little bit more, but yeah, it was just make it over in the easiest way possible, and then once they kicked it off on that steep climb, see you, see you at the bus."
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'Can't believe she didn't catch me' - Haugset on holding off Kopecky for Stage 3 win
Video credit: TNT Sports
This may have taken a lot out of Backstedt - Rowe
Former Olympic champion and now TNT Sports pundit, Dani Rowe, suggested that the terrain and the heat may have taken a lot out of Backstedt in Monday's tough Stage 3.
Rowe said: ”I saw Zoe Backstedt at the back and it’s about what it has taken out of her.
"Even in the grupetto it would have been difficult with the terrain, with the heat, but not as hard as fighting in that front group, so I hope she is given that green card to give it her all tomorrow.”
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Victory on Stage 3, from Geneva to Poligny, went to Norway's Sigrid Haugset (Uno-X Mobility) ahead of Belgium's two-time world champion Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx–Protime).
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