It was a fantastic day for Zoe Backstedt who took her second rainbow jersey in the under-23 women’s category, adding a second gold medal to Great Britain’s tally for these championships.

In the same race, her teammates Ella Maclean-Howell, Imogen Wolff and Cat Ferguson all took top 15 finishes.

In the junior men’s races, Oscar Amey and Milo Wills both finished in the top 10, while Thomas Mein finished 18th, and Cam Mason came home in 26th in the elite men’s category.

Under-23 women 

Zoe Backstedt delivered a masterclass in power and poise as she calmly and confidently rode her way to a second under-23 title, making her only the second woman ever to have won the title twice, alongside fellow Brit Evie Richards. 

Ella Maclean-Howell led the other British contenders in strong performances, finishing eighth overall with Imogen Wolff in ninth and Cat Ferguson not far behind in 13th.

Backstedt put the power down to take the lead immediately, with Celia Gery (France), Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg) and Leoni Bentveld (The Netherlands) in the front group with her. Imogen Wolff and Cat Ferguson of Great Britain stayed close behind in seventh and ninth place respectively.

After getting off to a good start, an early wipe out of her front wheel pushed Backstedt back into fifth place, but she was able to reset and make it back into the front group of five, while Wolff and Ferguson pushed hard to lead the chase group of eight.

Gery took the led ahead of Schrieber with Backstedt four seconds behind in third place, staying strong and controlled with all to play for so early in the race. A bike change for Schreiber gave her rivals the chance to get ahead, one with Backstedt capitalised on as she made a break for it. 

With two checkpoints to go on the first lap, Backstedt’s front wheel slipped out from under her on the descent, but seemingly unshaken she got back on and slipped right back into pace.

Heading into the second lap, Gery got on Backstedt’s wheel to go over the line behind her, with Schreier two seconds behind and Bentveld nine behind that. A chase group including Wolff and Ferguson continued to hunt down the leaders with a gap of 30 seconds.

The second lap saw Backstedt find her groove and attack the course with skill and composure, pressing on at a seemingly uncatchable pace. Completely in control, the 20-year-old extended her lead round every corner to cross the line for the second time with a huge 21 second lead on Schreiber.

Further back, French rider Amandine Muller sat in seventh place in a small group of three including Maclean-Howell in eighth and Ferguson in ninth, while Wolff rode  in 17th place.

Later, a puncture forced Ferguson to drop back while Maclean-Howell used her mountain bike skills to get stay in eighth place but extending her lead on ninth place rider Sterre Vervloet (Belgium) up to 20 seconds. 

Heading into fourth lap, Backstedt continued to hold a strong lead ahead of Schreiber while the battle for third place went on behind them between Gery and Bentveld.

Maclean-Howell stayed strong in eighth place while Wolff managed to make up some group into 11th while Ferguson dropped to 18th as the race strung out, leaving big time gaps between each solo rider.

At the front, Backstedt continued to cover the course seemingly with total control, skill and precision, making her way through each differing section and tackling the softening ground with absolute class. As the race progressed, it was clear to see the young rider had settled into the course and took the chance to glide through straightforward sections and manage her rest well ahead of the technical sections.

With one lap to go, Backstedt still comfortably held the gold medal position with a 26 second lead, but Schreiber gave it one more go at catching the defending champ and put the power down to reduce the gap to 15 seconds. It was unsustainable though and even with a small slip halfway through the course, Backstedt headed to the finish line with no other riders in sight, sat up on the final straight and claimed her second consecutive under-23 title with arms aloft and a huge smile on her face.

The other three British riders managed to regroup in the final lap, as Ella Maclean-Howell crossed the finish line in eighth place with Imogen Wolff close behind in ninth while Cat Ferguson came 13th overall.

On what retaining the title means to her, Backstedt said: 

“It hasn’t been the smoothest of seasons for me, it’s been a little up and down, but the last few races really boosted my confidence and coming into this I had the form for it and I’m just really happy to come out on top.” 

Junior men

The junior men’s race delivered an incredible battle of the bikes, with drama from the start which eventually saw back-to-back national champion Oscar Amey finish in a valiant sixth place, while debutant Milo Wills came home in a commendable 10th place.

Hitting the ground running, Oscar Amey led from the off alongside Valentin Hofer (Austria), Giel Lejeune (Belgium) and Mattia Agostinacchio (Italy), with chase rider Soren Bruyere Joumard (France) eight seconds behind.

An early crash from Hofer saw him out of the race, as Amey and Agostinacchio capitalised to move to the front. Amey delivered a blistering first lap, looking strong and tackling every element with ease, crossing the line first. Moving swiftly into the second lap, a small stumble from Amey and Agostinacchio on the steps let Joumard back in the mix to create a front group of three, 10 seconds ahead of the chasing group.

Lap three saw Amey involved in two collisions, one with Joumard and one with Agostinacchio which knocked him back and gave Benjamin Suarez Noval (Spain) the advantage to push into the lead. 

Seeming to recover well and pull himself back into contention, the lead group split with Noval leading, Agostinacchio five seconds behind and Amey a further four seconds behind with Joumard right on his tail. The podium positions were still all to play for at the halfway point of the race.

With Joumard and Noval neck and neck, Amey began to show signs of the earlier collisions getting to him, and slowly started to drop back, widening the gap to the podium. 

With the three leaders pushing the pace, Amey continued to drop further back, with a 19 second deficit heading into the penultimate lap. As Agostinacchio headed over the finish line to take the win, Amey managed to hold on to sixth place overall.

Meanwhile, teammate Milo Wills delivered an impressive performance in his first world championships, managing to stay in small groups throughout the race and attacking the course with purpose. Initially in a chase group of eight, Wills went through the first lap finish in 10th place. Wills continued to flip-flop between eighth and 10th place before dropping back into a group of three alongside Soen Le Pann (France) and Emilien Belzile (Canada).

Overtaken by Le Pann, Wills managed to hold off Belzile and keep his 10th place position as he crossed the finish line with a performance to be proud of in an explosive junior race.

Elite men 

In a chaotic race where Matthieu van der Poel’s (Netherlands) seventh elite title was decided within the first few hundred metres, the British hopefuls fought doggedly over eight laps with Thomas Mein finishing 18th and Cam Mason finishing 26th overall.

Van der Poel set a bslitering pace from the off, creating a lead to catch right away, while his main rival Wout van Aert (Belgium) was gridded on the fourth row. Pushing hard to catch him, van Aert got caught in a crash which held him back in 26th place just behind Thomas Mein in 25th. Cam Mason started further back in 37th place while van der Poel’s 13 second lead was chased by van Aert’s teammates.

With van der Poel in a commanding position after lap one with a 20 second lead, a group of six battled it out behind him, with the Belgians trying to control the pace in support of van Aert. A second group of 11 including van Aert and Mein fought hard to catch them, while Mason sat in 28th position neck and neck with American Eric Brunner. 

Even on the challenging and varied course van der Poel continue to extend his lead as the Belgian group worked to bring van Aert back into the fold. After an incredible fight from the middle of the group, van Aert had managed an almost impossible task of putting himself into second place, and in position to start reeling van der Poel back in.

However, a steely van der Poel showed no signs of losing his resolve and continued drive forward, putting almost a minute between him and his main rival. Meanwhile, Mein had dropped pace down into 15th while Mason rode solo in 20th, managing their efforts and trying to stay steady in a chaotic race.

As the build-up of the day’s races took its toll, the course became more trecherous and unpredictable, meaning small errors could be costly for riders. With one lap to go, Mein had lost ground and found himself just ahead of teammate Mason in 19th place.

Back at the head of the race, a determined van Aert continued to plug away, but van der Poel had set his stall from the very start and coolly crossed the finish line with van Aert out of sight, taking his seventh cyclo-cross world title.

Thomas Mein crossed the finish line in 18th place, while Mason followed in 26th overall.

Great Britain leaves the 2025 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships with two gold medals; one in the team relay and one for Zoe Backstedt in the under-23 women’s race.