Zoe Bäckstedt is ready to take on the elite riders at the Cyclo-cross World Championships for the first time, having completed a reduced season of racing following a wrist fracture in October.
The Briton, who won the under-23 world title in Liévin last year, heads to Hulst for the mixed team relay with Great Britain on Friday before doing battle against the top contenders including Lucinda Brand, Puck Pieterse, and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado on Saturday.
Twenty-one-year-old Bäckstedt has eight races under her belt so far this season, with her best result to date, a third place, coming at the GP Sven Nys on New Year's Day.
She heads to Hulst off the back of a fourth place at the most recent World Cup round in Hoogerheide, a result she called "bittersweet", while acknowledging it to be her strongest showing yet at World Cup level.
"I'm feeling super positive about this last double weekend of racing. I had a hard training camp with the team, so didn't know what to expect, but it seems like those big days worked out well!" Bäckstedt said in a Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto press release.
The race in Hoogerheide saw Bäckstedt finish a second off the podium and 11 back from winner Pieterse. Of the race, she said she "can finally be happy with this ride" despite the challenges of finding form in her limited cyclo-cross campaign.
This weekend's elite Cyclo-cross World Championships debut brings excitement and a new challenge as she steps up early from the U23 ranks, but Bäckstedt isn't putting pressure on herself to bring home a big result.
"I'm excited for my first elite Worlds. It's going to be a challenge and a completely different type of race to what I'm used to, but that's half the fun," she said.
"I don't really have expectations in terms of results – it's more about carrying the good legs from this weekend across.
"The week leading into worlds is just a lot of resting – a lot of time on the couch, and that's about it! For sure, there'll be a few days with some last intervals to get fully ready, but for now, all the hard work is done, so the only other thing you can do is rest!"
