Zoe Bäckstedt, from Pontyclun, is setting her sights firmly on the Olympics having achieved an impressive feat of junior and under-23 level accolades. Bäckstedt, a multi-disciplinary professional rider, is now living in Belgium to help further her career.
The down-to-earth 20-year-old most recently defended her under-23 women's world championship title at the cyclo-cross world championships. She has also won the 2021-22 junior cyclo-cross world championship title and has junior world titles in road, time trial and Madison, as well as a string of European and national titles.
It is a list of remarkable achievements and the reason she is tipped to be Britain's next big thing in the world of cycling and Wales' next genuine sporting superstar.
Bäckstedt grew up in a self-described "pure cycling" family, the sport is firmly in her genes with two ex-professional cyclists for parents and a professional cyclist older sister, Elynor. "From the moment I can remember I've always had a bike to ride," she said.
"I wasn't really a big fan of cycling for a while but as I got a bit older I started following my big sister and doing what she was doing and that's how I properly got into it."
"Growing up in Wales it was good fun, there was a lot of nice roads to ride round where I live and I had my club Maindy Flyers which I'd go to two if not three times a week to do a training session and they were probably my best memories."
Bäckstedt's former club Maindy Flyers has an impressive list of Welsh cycling alumni having produced a string of golden riders, including Geraint Thomas, Elinor Barker, Luke Row and Owain Doull. Reminiscing on her days at the club she said: "Once you're into it everyone is just there to support you and try and push you as far as possible, you have so much support from your club and the whole of Wales."
And she doesn't think it was a coincidence Wales has produced so many great cyclists. "I think how hard the training is around the UK and Wales especially. There's a lot of hills, the roads are so grippy, the weather's so rainy so you just become super strong from it."
"It's really nice to see so many Welsh riders on the road and also on the track, doing everything."
Since moving to Belgium in pursuit of her career aged just 18, Bäckstedt has had to adapt to a new way of life far from her familiar Vale of Glamorgan surroundings. The Red Bull athlete said: "It's a big thing to do when you're so young to move away from home but also moving to a different country was something new. It took me a little while to adjust to everything and try to find new routines in my new home."
"Being away from my family for a long time is the most challenging part of moving abroad. I don't get to go back so often, they come to me quite a lot, especially around some of the bigger races."
"I don't get to go home nearly as often as I would like and when I go back it's for one week or a little big longer and that's about it. That's the hardest part, not seeing the friends you've grown up with and not seeing your family on a daily or weekly basis."
She explained there's a lot of other riders in the women's peloton who live nearby so she has people to train with but admitted "it's still quite an isolating thing to be away from your real home".
Bäckstedt's career has no-doubt been helped by her cycling-mad family and she conceded that it helps her parents have the experience of being in the peloton and doing full-on training. Zoe's mum Megan represented Wales at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and her dad Magnus was a professional rode racer, riding in the Tour de France and winning the prestigious Paris-Roubaix road race.
"They play a big role as they can help me with different things if I'm struggling leading up to a race or if I've not done so great in a race I wanted to do well in. They know the feeling, they've been through it themselves so just having their experiences from racing has really helped me to where I am now and I know in the future there will be other moments when I need them."
"My dad was still racing when I was younger so I got to watch a lot of his races. My mum retired when she had my sister so I never got to watch her racing but I've always watched videos back and it's really cool to see how different the racing was back then but still how hard it was."
"Everything was different really. Not to do with purely the racing but the pay we have now is so different to when my mum was racing but also equipment and everything, so much has changed."
Looking ahead to the future Bäckstedt has big hopes and dreams. This year her aims are firmly set on the gruelling road race her dad won back in 2004.
"For this year, Paris-Roubaix will be my biggest goal. I was 16th there last year and I would like to equal if not better my result. It's one of the hardest races and one of my favourite races on the calendar and I just want to really push myself to be in good shape and do everything the best as possible for that one."
But casting her mind further afield the Olympics are where Zoe's setting her sights having just missed out on Paris last year. "The Olympics in LA, those are going to be big ones for me. I missed them last year in Paris due to sickness so it was a bit of a hard hit for me but it just gives me more motivation for the next Olympics and all the cycles after that."
You can see all of Zoe's impressive achievements on her Red Bull page.
