Backstedt retains Baloise Ladies Tour title with narrowest of margins

Zoe Backstedt has retained the Baloise Ladies Tour title, the Welsh rider defending the crown she won a year ago as the race's youngest-ever winner. The 21-year-old finished with a provisional overall time of 11 hours, 27.08 minutes.

Her victory was built on a strong final weekend, including a win in the stage 3A time trial on Saturday, a discipline in which she has also enjoyed success in cyclo-cross as well as on the road.

How the standings finished

The margins behind Backstedt were extremely tight. Nienke Veenhoven of the Netherlands, who took victory on the final stage, finished 22 seconds down on general classification, while Australia's Felicity Wilson-Haffenden was 23 seconds back. Only one second separated those two riders overall.

• Zoe Backstedt (Wales) retained the Baloise Ladies Tour title
• She won the stage 3A time trial on Saturday
• Provisional overall time: 11 hours, 27.08 minutes
• Nienke Veenhoven won the final stage; Felicity Wilson-Haffenden was third overall
• Charlotte Kool of the Netherlands placed fourth, with England's Millie Couzens fifth

A narrow buffer at the top

Backstedt's winning margin of more than 20 seconds to the riders immediately behind her was comfortable enough in the end, but the one-second gap between Veenhoven and Wilson-Haffenden underlines how finely the rest of the podium was decided across the race.

The result adds another stage-race title to Backstedt's road record and confirms her consistency in a race she first conquered as a teenager. Attention now turns to how she carries that form through the remainder of the road season.