Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) powered to her first elite title at the British national road championships in the time trial on Thursday, beating defending champion Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) by 20 seconds in Wales.
Still just 20, Welsh rider Bäckstedt stormed through the 27km course in a time of 38:48 on home roads, stopping the clock in Abearon with an average speed of 42.7kph.
Defending champion Henderson was the last off the start ramp, but was unable to claim her third British elite women's ITT title. She was the only rider within a minute of Bäckstedt, with third-place Pfeiffer Georgi (Picnic PostNL) finishing 1:27 slower.
After Joanne Rea (Boompods) kicked off the action in the elite women's time trial, Lauren Dickson (Handsling Alba Development) set the early benchmark, stopping the clock in a time of 42:18 with an average speed of 38.3kph.
Dickson's lead remained unchallenged until the established specialists and WorldTour pros got underway, with Josie Nelson (Picnic PostNL) and multiple-time Track cycling world champion Anna Morris beating her time by 45 seconds and two minutes respectively.
Georgi momentarily had the lead, only for Bäckstedt to rip through the hilly course in Ceredigion and break the 40-minute barrier, by quite a margin, for the first time in the time trial.
Henderson did similarly, but could not pull back the 31-second deficit she entered the second sector with on Bäckstedt, riding a faster second half but still finishing 20 seconds down.
Results
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