Magnus Bäckstedt (born 30 January 1975)L'Équipe, France, 12 April 2004. is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former professional road bicycle racer. His most notable achievement in cycling is winning

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...

in 2004.

Early life

Born in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

, Östergötland Bäckstedt began as a skier, selected for the national team when he was 14.

Career

Bäckstedt began his professional career in 1996, riding for Collstrop before moving to Palmans in 1997. In 1998, having switched to , Bäckstedt came seventh in 1998 Paris–Roubaix and won the 19th stage of the 1998 Tour de France between

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city l ...

and

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

. In 2002 and 2003 he rode for Team Fakta where he was the strongest rider in 2003. When Fakta closed he went to , where he won the

2004 Paris–Roubaix The 2004 Paris–Roubaix was the 102nd running of the Paris–Roubaix single-day cycling race, often known as the ''Hell of the North''. It was held on 11 April 2004 over a distance of . Among the participating favorites were 1996, 2000 and 2002 wi ...

. The two favourites,

Peter van Petegem Peter van Petegem (born 18 January 1970 in Brakel, Belgium) is a former professional road racing cyclist. Van Petegem last rode for Quick Step-Innergetic, in 2007. He lived in Horebeke. He was a specialist in spring classics, one of ten riders to ...

and

Johan Museeuw Johan Museeuw (born 13 October 1965) is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist who was a professional from 1988 until 2004. Nicknamed ''The Lion of Flanders'', he was particularly successful in the cobbled classics of Flanders and ...

dropped out after crashes, leaving Bäckstedt to sprint on the track at

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

against three others. The manager of Crédit Agricole,

Roger Legeay Roger Legeay (born 8 August 1949, Beaufay) is a French former professional racing cyclist and cycling team manager. Biography Legeay was the manager of the Peugeot cycling team in its final year of existence in 1986. In 1987, he created the Vé ...

, had predicted that Bäckstedt would one day win the race. He said: "He's not a flahute. He's not especially the fastest, but after 260km on the cobbles, it's often the rider who feels freshest who wins." In 2005 Bäckstedt moved to Liquigas-Bianchi, and came second on the 7th stage of the 2005 Tour de France. He rode for in 2008. He was eliminated in that year's Tour de France for being too slow. He said: :I had been going OK, and on that stage we decided to make it hard from the start because we were close enough to yellow to get the jersey. The first 60km were up and down, but I was going fine. Then there was this fourth-category climb and about halfway up I was suddenly short of breath. It was like I shut down from the waist down. I went straight out of the back. I calmed down and got back on top of it. There was 100km to go, but I went OK. I could see the numbers on the power meter and they were normal for the kind of effort you need to get to the finish on your own inside the time limit. I think I would have made it too, but there was a real steep hill just before the finish and my breathing and legs went again. I ended up four minutes outside the cut-off. Bäckstedt announced his retirement from professional cycling on 6 February 2009, citing a desire to focus on managing his developmental cycling team, Cyclesport.se-MagnusMaximusCoffee.com. Bäckstedt said he will also continue as a consultant with his former Garmin-Slipstream team. The Swede had struggled with a number of health issues during his career, including a serious knee injury, melanoma, and a separated shoulder and broken collarbone. On 13 November 2010, Bäckstedt announced at the

UK Youth UK Youth is a national youth work charity founded in 1911 that delivers national programmes to provide opportunities to young people. The charity is an umbrella body with 40 local youth associations from across England. UK Youth's national programm ...

Centenary Gala that he would be coming out of retirement to lead the UK Youth Cycling Team along with Nigel Mansell and his sons. Bäckstedt rode for the MG Maxifuel team in 2013. Prior to round 8 of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series at

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...

on 6 June 2013, he once again announced he was retiring and that the race would be his final one in professional road racing, his intention being to continue competing in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

and Ironman Triathlon events.

Personal life

Bäckstedt is married to British former cyclist Megan Hughes. They live in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

,Cycling Weekly, UK, 22 November 2003. moving there from

Zulte Zulte () is a Belgian municipality located in Flanders and in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Machelen, and Zulte proper. In 2021, Zulte had a total population of 15,843. The total area is 32.52&nbs ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. They have two daughters.Pezcyclingnews.com
/ref> His elder daughter, Elynor, won bronze in the Team Pursuit at the 2018 UCI Junior track championships and bronze at the 2018 and 2019 UCI world championships in the junior women's time trial. Younger daughter Zoë made her World Championships debut at the 2021 World Championships in Flanders, Belgium, where she won the gold medal in the Junior Women's Road Race and the silver medal in the Junior Women's Individual Time Trial. Bäckstedt said: "We used to come back here o Walesevery time I had a break. I prefer it to Belgium. You can ride 30 miles between villages here, whereas in Belgium you were stopping for traffic lights." His sister Cecilia is also a racing cyclist.Siteducyclisme.net
/ref> Bäckstedt runs a coffee business with franchises in the United States and Sweden. Proceeds from the business support Swedish cycling. In 2013 he joined

Declan Quigley Declan Quigley is a broadcaster and journalist from Ireland. Career He is the chief motorsport writer for the ''Irish Independent'', Ireland's largest circulation daily newspaper, and has been the lead commentator for Setanta Sports TV's coverage ...

to commentate on the

Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...

for

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

Major results

;1992 : 1st MaillotSuecia

Time trial, National Junior Road Championships ;1993 : National Junior Road Championships ::1st MaillotSuecia

Road race ::1st MaillotSuecia

Time trial ::1st MaillotSuecia

Team time trial ;1995 : Boland Bank Tour ::1st Stages 4 & 7 ;1996 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall Boland Bank Tour ::1st Prologue & Stage 5 : 2nd GP D'Isbergues ;1997 : 1st GP D'Isbergues : 3rd Overall Boland Bank Tour ;1998 : 1st Stage 19

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

: 2nd Overall

Tour of Sweden The Tour of Sweden (or Postgirot Open) was an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's ...

::1st Stage 4b : 1st Sprints competition Four Days of Dunkirk : 1st

Duo Normand The Duo Normand is a two-man team time trial (against the clock) for elite racing cyclists. Held annually at Marigny-le-Lozon in Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of '' ...

(with

Jérôme Neuville Jérôme Neuville (born 15 August 1975 in Saint-Martin d'Hères, Isère) is a French racing cyclist. He had a break in his track cycling career between 1999 and 2002, during which time he competed on the road as a professional cyclist with the ...

) : 7th

;1999 : 3rd Overall

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (branded as the Santos Tour Down Under under a partnership arrangement) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and features all 19 UCI World ...

;2000 : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 9th Vattenfall Cyclassics ;2002 : 1st MaillotSuecia

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st

Le Samyn Le Samyn is an annual single-day road bicycle race in Belgium, held usually in late February or early March. The event was created in 1968 as ''Grand Prix de Fayt-le-Franc'', named after the former municipality where it started and finished. In 1 ...

;2003 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotSuecia

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

::2nd Road race : 1st Jersey blue

Intergiro classification Giro d'Italia : 2nd

Nokere Koerse Nokere Koerse is a European semi classic single day cycle race held in the Belgian region of Flanders. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Starting in 2016 it was a 1.HC event. The Nokere Koerse was cr ...

: 2nd GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise : 3rd

GP Herning Grand Prix Herning is a one-day road bicycle race, held in '' Midtjylland'', Denmark. The race is organised by Herning Bicycle Club with both start and goal in Herning. The race is characterised by its gravel paths, which result in multiple punc ...

: 4th

Ronde van Noord-Holland Ronde van Noord-Holland is a road bicycle race held annually in the province of North Holland (Noord-Holland) in the Netherlands. In 2005 the race was organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of r ...

;2004 : 1st

: 2nd

Gent–Wevelgem Gent–Wevelgem, officially Gent–Wevelgem – In Flanders Fields, is a road cycling race in Belgium, held annually since 1934. It is one of the classic races part of the Flemish Cycling Week, run in late March on the last Sunday before the To ...

: 2nd CSC Classic ;2005 : 4th

: 8th Overall

Tour of Qatar The Tour of Qatar was an annual professional cycling stage race held in Qatar. First organized in 2002, the event was part of the UCI Asia Tour until 2016. The 2017 edition was to have seen the event upgraded to the UCI World Tour for the firs ...

;2007 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotSuecia

Road race ::2nd

;2008 : 1st Stage 1 ( TTT) Giro d'Italia : 8th Overall

Three Days of De Panne 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

References

External links

* *
Danish Cycle Union profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backstedt, Magnus 1975 births Living people People from Linköping Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Sweden Cycling announcers Swedish male cyclists Swedish Tour de France stage winners Sportspeople from Östergötland County