{"id":51032,"date":"2026-02-27T06:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=51032"},"modified":"2026-02-27T06:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:20:08","slug":"cr7381pv2xyoat_mediumrssat_campaignrss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/02\/27\/cr7381pv2xyoat_mediumrssat_campaignrss\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoe Backstedt: &#8216;My helmet saved my life&#8217;, says Welsh cyclist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The family name Backstedt carries a lot of weight in cycling circles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Her father Magnus won Paris-Roubaix and a stage of the 1998 Tour de France, while her mother, Megan, won the British road race national title and competed for Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpa the same year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Both Zoe and Elynor followed suit and began to forge their careers in the professional ranks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Backstedt says she takes a lot of inspiration from her time at Maindy Flyers in Cardiff, a cycling club with some very famous alumni.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Elinor Barker was just a few years older than my sister, so as I was looking towards cycling as a career, she was stepping into racing and I got to watch her grow and progress in the sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s something cool to see, coming from the same club you are, riding circles around Maindy Velodrome and you&#8217;re like &#8216;Yeah, if she can do it, I can do it, maybe I can follow in those footsteps&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve had a similar path into cycling and then you want to do that too.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Olympic gold medallist and Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas also began his career at the famous track, first opened in 1951 before hosting the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He progressed from Maindy to the men&#8217;s world tour, so it&#8217;s a little bit different, but you&#8217;re still coming from the same place, doing the same sessions on a Tuesday night,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Backstedt hopes she too can provide inspiration for the next generation coming through the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;To see all the little ones that are coming up through the sport and see if you can inspire them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I think even out on the roads here in Spain, I&#8217;ve seen some people from Maindy out riding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;You&#8217;re waving at them on the bike and you&#8217;re like, &#8216;Yeah, you could be in my team in a few years, or riding in one of the men&#8217;s teams&#8217;, and that&#8217;s just so cool to see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Zoe #Backstedt #helmet #saved #life #Welsh #cyclist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The family name Backstedt carries a lot of weight in cycling circles. Her father Magnus won Paris-Roubaix and a stage&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51034,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51032\/revisions\/51034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}