Prodigy for a reason: "seriously ill" Bäckstedt angry in the shower again, Van Empel and co watch out!

When she finishes seventh in Merksplas on Saturday, Bäckstedt briefly sees spots. She went deep and even has to sit against the fences to recover for a little while. A quick protein shake from her Canyon//SRAM attendant, some wine gums, and a dry jacket do their wonders. "It was just as tough as the first one but also just as much fun," she laughs again. "It's nice to be back, although you might have to ask me again in ten minutes. I'm completely exhausted because I gave everything on that last lap. I'm tired!"

She quickly puts more wine gums in her mouth for some quick sugars. Is coming seventh, for a second time in a row, something she can move forward with? "So far, I'm happy with my form. Of course, I can do better because I come here to win, just like everyone else. I want to get to that podium, but that's only becoming pressing toward the season's end. As I've said in more interviews, my summer wasn't the best. I fell ill, so I can't expect much from myself yet. I need to let my body decide how hard I go and shouldn't go too deep. Otherwise I'll be back to square one."

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Ill? Yes, Bäckstedt really struggled this summer. After giving up on the RideLondon Classique in May and then not starting at the British Road Championships, it became clear that something was amiss. It turned out to be Pfeiffer's disease, also known as mono, which is a virus that can cause problems for weeks, months, and sometimes even years. "She was quite ill and had to start from scratch. Mark Cavendish also had it, you don't just come back from that", her coach Geert Wellens emphasized when asked.

Only thing is; Bäckstedt doesn't like to sit still. That she wasn't able to ride a road race again until early September must have been rough during the previous period. "If Zoe sets her mind to something, she often succeeds because she is absolutely tenacious. Only downside is, that when it doesn't work out, it takes a lot of work," Wellens laughed revealingly. "At the moment, we don't notice anything bad anymore regarding her health, but at her first cyclo-cross training session, I was shocked. I still expected a lot of work, but in the Simac Ladies Tour (in October, ed.), she had to go deep all week for a GC and was already making significant progress. With Zoe, it's always a matter of wait-and-see anyway because she is such a talent; she makes strides by the day that others make by the week. That's fun to see."

And so she finished third in the Simac Ladies Tour and won the opening time trial. After that stage race, the focus quickly turned to cyclo-cross. "I had been trying out the cyclo-cross bike toward the end of the road season, so the feeling was already there. Getting the right feeling back before World Cup competitions is important. I take a look at it on a day-to-day basis and train like you'd probably expect; a bit on the road, a bit on the cyclo-cross bike, and most of all, have a lot of fun."

So, with this background information, those seventh places in Lokeren and Merksplas were already a lot more realistic. The fact that she finished fourth in Hamme, just one day after Merksplas, was something she herself didn't expect to happen. "It was better than expected, for sure. After yesterday, I had no idea how good it would be, because my muscles were pretty stiff, especially my back, like always in the first races. Apparently I recovered well last night, and so my goal today was to give everything up until the finish. Where I would finish wouldn't matter in that case and today, it turned out to be fourth. It was mostly important as preparation for the World Cup races."

And to think that halfway through the race, Bäckstedt even went down, after a mistake by Annemarie Worst. "I don't know what would have been achievable without that moment. You can speculate about that; I'm just happy to be inching closer to the podium and that the feeling was better. It was a successful day," said the top talent, already overflowing with ambition. Coach Wellens remains calmer: "She has to stay healthy because when she said last year after her European U23 Championship title that she wanted to battle in the elite this winter, she didn't know yet that she would get so sick. Consequently, there may be bad races in between, so she shouldn't worry about that then. Hopefully, the lesser days won't come when she wants to peak."

The main goal is to defend her world title in the U23, but she clearly wants more, when faced with her statements about Van Empel and co (after last year's European Championships). "Of course, that's still in my head; it would be nice to compete with them. But I must also stay realistic and see how I feel after each cross. From there, we'll see what's possible."

Wellens briefly summarized the weekend: "Zoe is a winner, but in Lokeren, the expectation was not that she would immediately be at her best in her first cross. She had some trouble with her back but had a perfect training week and in Merksplas it was good. However, I've already told Zoe that the level of women's cyclo-cross has skyrocketed recently. Everyone knows what they are doing, so all mistakes will be penalised, as in the men's racing."

In Merksplas and Hamme, Bäckstedt experienced hold-ups on both days. "In Merksplas, she made a mistake in the sandpit, causing her to lose ten to fifteen seconds. She ended up seventh and then told us she didn't feel good because she couldn't close that gap. At those moments it can be difficult to encourage her, but it is also a rare sight to see someone recover after such a race," Wellens refers to the strong performance on Sunday.

Bäckstedt's winning mentality proved to be unmatched. Seventh? She's not competing for that. "After a setback like that, she's in a bad mood for the first fifteen to thirty minutes after the finish. We then leave her be for a bit, to get herself back together. At that point she's angry with herself and asks us a lot of questions, but after a shower, she's able to listen again. Two hours later, the worst is behind us, although there can still be some discussion sometimes. After a night's sleep, she's really able to leave it behind her and look forward again. It's only reasonable that she's able to process it out loud, because if you don't put it out there, it only gets worse."

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])