Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) won stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse Women in Bad Ragaz on Friday, taking a convincing bunch sprint after her team controlled the 120.8km stage and delivered her to the front in the closing kilometres. Speaking in a post-stage interview with Cycling Pro Net, Bäckstedt said Canyon-SRAM had planned the finale and "executed it really well."
"It's a victory for myself, but it's really 99% down to them," she said. "I just did the fast part at the finish line there."
Bäckstedt opened several bike lengths on the field and crossed the line well clear of Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) in second and Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) in third. The stage, almost completely flat by Swiss standards, had been identified before the race as the clearest sprint opportunity of the five-day event.
Bäckstedt said she knew from the morning that the finish profile suited her. "Not too hilly, not too flat. Just right," she said. "We had a plan and we executed it really well."
Stage 3 Results
Jun 19 • 120.8km
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Zoe Bäckstedt | CSRCanyon-SRAM | - |
| 🥈 | Lily Williams | HPHHuman Powered Health | - |
| 🥉 | Shari Bossuyt | AGSAG Insurance-Soudal | - |
How the sprint opened up
Canyon-SRAM teammate Aga led the bunch at high speed into the final kilometre, but Bäckstedt found herself boxed in with less than a kilometre to go. She described working her way out to the left side of the road, where she spotted open tarmac and the 400m-to-go marker.
"I thought, yeah, it's now or never," Bäckstedt said. "I screamed at her to move to the right instead of the left, and she said after, 'Thank you for doing that because I was going to turn left.'"
Bäckstedt launched from just inside the 300m mark, standing on the pedals before switching to a seated drive to the line. "At some point your legs are also tired," she said. "So it was then a seated drive to the line and hope that no one comes around me."
Nobody did. The margin was enough to make the final metres comfortable.
The team's work extended well beyond the lead-out. An eight-rider breakaway had gone clear earlier in the stage, featuring Megan Arens (Picnic PostNL), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) among others, but the group never gained more than two minutes. Laura Asencio (Ma Petite Entreprise) later attacked alone and was brought back with 8km remaining, setting up the bunch sprint that Canyon-SRAM wanted.
"I was a bit nervous when the break went and we didn't have anyone in it," Bäckstedt said. "But it was controlled quite nicely and we managed to bring it back with just enough time before the finish."
The stage was affected by a crash inside the final 4km, when Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) clipped a pedal on the road barriers and went over her handlebars. Dickson, who sat second on GC before the stage, was later revealed to have suffered a broken collarbone and was forced to abandon the race. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) remained the overall race leader.
The win is Bäckstedt's second road victory of 2026, after she took the opening time trial at the Vuelta a Extremadura in March, beating Brodie Chapman by 12 seconds over 18km in the rain. That result came four months after she fractured her wrist in a training crash on November 1, 2025, an injury that delayed her cyclo-cross season and kept her on turbo training until she was cleared to ride outdoors on December 9.
Bäckstedt said she is already looking ahead to stage 4, which features a time trial. "Tomorrow should be a good day for me again," she said.
Cover image credit: Thomas Maheux/SWpix.com
