The Trouée d’Arenberg is 2.4km of rough, uneven stones that can wreck your tyres, break your bike and ruin your race. According to the organisers of Paris-Roubaix, that makes it a section of “five-star” difficulty. To Zoe Backstedt, the 21-year-old British rider, the reality is more straightforward. “Brutal,” she says.
Backstedt, a multiple junior world champion in disciplines as diverse as cyclo-cross and the Madison, has Paris-Roubaix in the blood: her father, Magnus, from Sweden, won the men’s race in 2004 for Alessio-Bianchi and his cobble trophy has pride of place in the family home. However, though she has ridden the sector in training, in Paris-Roubaix Femmes on Sunday, neither she nor any other member of the women’s peloton will cross the famous Arenberg.
Paris-Roubaix Femmes is now entering its sixth edition. It began in the rain in 2021, a race that Britain’s Lizzie Deignan won for Trek-Segafredo after sliding along the wet and muddy cobbles in search of victory. The course is shorter than the men’s — starting in Denain, rather than Compiègne — and covers 143km, taking in 20 cobbled sectors compared to the men’s 258km and 30 sectors. Of the three five-star sectors covered by the men, the women will take in Mons-en-Pévèle (3km) and Carrefour de l’Arbre (2.1km), but not the 2.3km Arenberg.
“I would like to ride Arenberg,” Backstedt, the Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto rider, says. “It’s an iconic sector and I think if you ask most of the peloton, they would also like to race it.
Backstedt’s father, Magnus, knows the famous cobbles of Paris-Roubaix well, having won the race in 2004Tim de Waele/Corbis via Getty Images
“It’s never-ending. You feel like you can see the end but it’s not getting closer. Then imagine still doing like 100km of racing afterwards — that sounds like hell.”
The rationale is that, because Arenberg is close to the start in Denain, they would have been racing for only 50km or so before taking it on, when the peloton would be fresh and breaks unlikely, whereas the men don’t hit it until they are 163km in.
“The route would have to change a little bit to give us a run-in,” says Backstedt, who is from Pontyclun in south Wales. “But it would be something that would be super good to have in the future for us.”
For the first time this year, the women will race on Sunday — starting after the men’s race — rather than on Saturday. Backstedt, the under-23 time-trial world champion and Red Bull athlete, goes into the race after a promising fifth place in the Tour of Flanders. Alongside the likes of Cat Ferguson of Movistar, who also races this weekend, she is one of Great Britain’s brightest talents.
Backstedt heads into Paris-Roubaix after a promising display in the Tour of Flanders, where she finished fifthPim Waslander/Soccrates/Getty Images
“I thought it was super nice to have our own day to celebrate us as women finally having an edition of the race ourselves,” she says. “It’s going to be a completely different feeling this year. But to have all the spectators from the men’s race on the side, it’s going to be cool.
“I would love to win this race. It’s something that is close to our whole family. We’re all super proud of what my dad did. It brings out the toughest riders and I really would love to have a cobblestone to match his one. That’s a cool dream to have.”
One of the best tips Magnus gave his daughter early in her career was how to hold the handlebars for the cobbles — loosely, she says, while showing me a small blister on the ball of her hand that resulted from a recon ride earlier in the day.
“I was a little bit too tense on the bike today,” she says, laughing. “You need a soft grip and just try to relax as much as possible.”
Backstedt has benefited from the experience and advice of her dad Alex Whitehead/Shutterstock
Last year she managed 15th — 2min 16sec back from the winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of Visma-Lease a Bike — and this year she wants to stay with the lead group for as long as possible. It is a race often about luck, she says; you could have a puncture early on, and once you’re out the back in Paris-Roubaix, it is hard to get back on.
In the meantime, Backstedt is taking it easy. The big recon ride is over, Friday and Saturday are about recovery and relaxation. A couple of hour-and-a-half rides on smooth roads and some sprint efforts to warm the legs.
“And that’s about it,” she says. “Literally, from now on it’s: lie down, keep the legs up, that kind of stuff. And just basically watch all of Netflix. Oh, and eat some good food from the chef — lots of food from the chef.”