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News & Racing<\/a><\/p>\n Massive talent got him where he is. A past tragedy that keeps him focused on the present will help him take the next step.<\/p>\n Cor Vos, Kristof Ramon<\/p>\n At Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, keep an eye out among the sturdy crew of Lidl-Trek riders shielding, supporting and teeing up Mads Pedersen for a tall, blonde Swede by the name of Jakob S\u00f6derqvist. The team believes the 22-year-old could be Pedersen\u2019s long-term successor. That, of course, motivates an ambitious S\u00f6derqvist, who\u2019s already had notable success on his time trial bike, not least winning the U23 World Championships last September in Kigali, Rwanda. \u201cHow I distribute power comes naturally to me which made time trialling an earlier speciality, but I\u2019d like to progress to become a Classics specialist,\u201d he told Escape Collective in a recent interview.<\/p>\n But S\u00f6derqvist has another \u2013 and entirely different \u2013 motivation to be the best possible bike rider he can be, perhaps to become the first Swede since Magnus B\u00e4ckstedt won Paris-Roubaix in 2004 to triumph in a major Cobbled Classic. Every time he rides \u2013 in a race, while training, or just recreationally \u2013 he does so for one of his best friends and regular cycling partners, Vilgot Lindh.<\/p>\n Lindh “was one of the kindest humans that I ever met,” said S\u00f6derqvist. “He was always the one, I think, who most enjoyed cycling and developing and trying to become better. I haven\u2019t met anyone else who did it with so much joy, which was truly an inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n But that inspiration is indelibly marked by tragedy. In October 2022, S\u00f6derqvist \u2013 19 at the time \u2013 found Lindh dead at home, an event S\u00f6derqvist called “the scariest moment of my life.” It was also one that had a profound effect on his own approach to racing and life.<\/p>\n “Vilgot was the same age as I am now \u2013 22 years old \u2013 and we were really just simple people: no one had a big sponsor or was earning anything, we were just doing it as our biggest passion and he was enjoying it so, so much,\u201d S\u00f6derqvist recalled, opening up for the first ever time in public about the loss of his friend.<\/p>\n ‘He just loved always being on the bike’<\/p>\n Vilgot Lindh was born in May 2000 in H\u00e4rn\u00f6sand, more than 400 km north of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. H\u00e4rn\u00f6sand is a town of 25,000, situated on the northwestern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, known as the \u2018Gateway to the High Coast,’ a UNESCO World Heritage site<\/a>. It\u2019s a popular summer destination for Swedes opting for a staycation. Like his twin brother Edvin and older brother Axel, Vilgot took up cycling (principally mountain biking) at a young age, and the pair joined their local club, H\u00e4rn\u00f6sands CK.\u00a0<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CMB-mug-shot-aspect-ratio-99-99-150x150.jpeg\")
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