Magnus Bäckstedt new directeur sportif of Canyon/Sram women’s racing team
Former pro excited to join squad in new role
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Canyon/Sram twitter
Canyon-Sram racing announced on Wednesday that Magnus Bäckstedt will join the team as lead directeur sportif in 2023.
Bäckstedt had a prolific career as a pro, having won Paris Roubaix and stages of the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia. After retiring from cycling, he continued in elite sport managing UK cycling teams and doing television race commentary.
The Swedish-born cyclist has been involved in women’s cycling for the past few years on a personal level supporting his two daughters, both professional riders. Zoe Bäckstedt just won both the road race and time trial at the recent world championships in Australia.
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“I’m excited to take on this role. It’s exciting times for women’s cycling, and being part of that makes me happy and proud.” he said. “The team has a really strong base of riders and an interesting way of racing, so I’m keen to see what I can add to that. At the same time, I would like to improve some areas and put my stamp on them. Overall, it’s a great position to start from.”
“I feel I will bring a calm, direct approach to the racing. I hope the riders will feel the passion that I bring as well as my keen eye for detail when it comes to how we approach the races. I want everyone to see that we are a team that backs each other 100%.”
Bäckstedt already has plans in motion for the next season and hopes the team can continue to dominate in the peloton. When asked about his goals for 2023, Bäckstedt said it’s pretty clear what lays ahead.
“That is a pretty easy question to answer: win more bike races, and have fun while doing it. But the specifics you’ll have to wait for, lots of work is currently going into planning the next season right now.”
