{"id":268022,"date":"2025-07-17T01:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T01:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268022\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T01:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T01:12:14","slug":"baloise-ladies-tour-zoe-backstedt-smashes-prologue-to-claim-first-leaders-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268022\/","title":{"rendered":"Baloise Ladies Tour: Zoe B\u00e4ckstedt smashes prologue to claim first leader’s jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zoe B\u00e4ckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) was the fastest in the 3.1km prologue that opened the Baloise Ladies Tour on Wednesday in Yerseke.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old covered the distance with a winning time of 00:04.06, beating Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) and Charlotte Kool (Picnic PostNL) by one second to take the stage win and the event’s first leader’s jersey.<\/p>\n

The Baloise Ladies Tour is a six-stage race held over five days from July 16 to 20. The event kicked off with a 3.1km prologue in Yerseke, treating the peloton to a pan-flat and fast race against the clock to determine the stage winner and first overall leader.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) set the early benchmark covering the course with a time of 4.11, and only a fraction of a second faster than her teammate Barbara Guarischi.<\/p>\n

Other mid-race fast times were posted by Rachele Barbieri (Picnic PostNL), Sophie von Berswordt (Visma-Lease a Bike), Elizabeth Holden (UAE Team ADQ) and Ava Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), all within a second of Markus.<\/p>\n

As the time trial progressed, Martina Findaza (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) crossed the finish line with times fast enough to slot into the top 10.<\/p>\n

But closer to the end of the event, it was Margaux Vigi\u00e9 (Visma-Lease a Bike), who was the first rider to break through Markus’ early benchmark with a new fastest time.<\/p>\n

Her time in the hot seat was short-lived, however, as B\u00e4ckstedt raced through six seconds faster.<\/p>\n

Then came Van Dijk and Kool, Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime), all slotting in just behind B\u00e4ckstedt in the top five.<\/p>\n

B\u00e4ckstedt will lead the Baloise Ladies Tour into stage 1’s 127.2km from Jabbeke to Knokke-Heist on Thursday.<\/p>\n

ResultsSwipe to scroll horizontallyPrologue – top 10<\/p>\n\n

Pos.<\/p>\n

Rider (Team)<\/p>\n

Time<\/p>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Zoe B\u00e4ckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

00:04:06<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Ellen Van Dijk (Lidl-Trekl)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

00:00:01<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Charlotte Kool (Picnic-PostNL)<\/p>\n<\/td>\nRow 2 – Cell 2 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

00:00:04<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Marthe Goossens (AG Insurance-Soudal Team)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

00:00:05<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Margaux Vigi\u00e9 (Visma-Lease a Bike)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

00:00:06<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

00:00:08<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime)<\/p>\n<\/td>\nRow 7 – Cell 2 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Fien van Eynde (Fenix-Deceuninck)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

00:00:09<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Martina Fidanza (Visma-Lease a Bike)<\/p>\n<\/td>\nRow 9 – Cell 2 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zoe B\u00e4ckstedt (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) was the fastest in the 3.1km prologue that opened the Baloise Ladies Tour on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-268022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114865920067175790","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}