Zoe Backstedt continued Welsh cycling’s dream week by finishing fourth in the time trial stage of the Tour de France Femmes.

Just days after Emma Finucane and Anna Morris were racking up the golds for Team Wales at the Commonwealth Games, Backstedt began her first appearance on Le Tour, aiming to cause a splash in the time trial.

The 21-year-old did just that, speeding round the 21km course from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon in 27:50, just two seconds off a podium places and 20 seconds behind race winner and yellow jersey holder Marlen Reusser.

Backstedt is the junior world champion at the time trial, and has had a blistering start to 2026.

She won the Road Race and Time Trial at the British National Championships, before winning the Baloise Ladies Tour in July for the second year in a row.

Such is the level that Backstedt expects of herself, even at such a young age, the Canyon–SRAM cyclist was not content with fourth place.

“Disappointed,” was her reaction to the media after the stage.

“I always hope for more in a time trial like this. But yeah, give me maybe an hour or so, and I’ll come around to the fact that yeah I got fourth in my first Tour de France time trial.”

It wasn’t just a matchup of the reigning U23 time trial World Champion against the elite women’s World Champion.

It was one of the deepest fields of competitors Backstedt had ever faced. Multi-time Dutch time trial medalist Lieke Nooijen of Visma-Lease a Bike finished just four seconds behind Reusser for the runner-up spot.

What may have stung the most was getting bumped from the podium by two seconds by former Tour winner FDJ United-SUEZ’s Demi Vollering.

Vollering pulverised the mid-race descent from the time check on the climb of Lacets de Marsannay, gaining five seconds on Reusser to take third on the stage, and in the process knocking the young Briton off the podium.

“I did a super good power for the first half, and then yeah, the second half where we went on the downhill, it was really quick,” she added.

“I was going above 85 [kph], and at that point it’s letting the speed do the work.

“You can’t really do anything extra, you know. Like I was maxing out the gears already, just letting the speed do the work.”

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