Culture

Rapha films presents: the Queens of the Classic

Rapha takes you behind the scenes with Zoe Bäckstedt and Alison Jackson at the 2023 Paris-Roubaix

May 8, 2023

From the pavé to its iconic trophy, Paris-Roubaix is a classics race like no other. Two of our riders, Zoe Bäckstedt and Alison Jackson, experienced this first hand at the 2023 edition of the race.

In Rapha’s film, “The Queens of Classic,” we follow 18-year-old Zoe as she prepares to make her debut at the race her father won just a few months before she was born. The film charts the teenager’s ascension though cycling, right up to taking on the cobbles of northern France. And Zoe’s teammate Alison Jackson, the Queen of TikTok, earned herself a new title: the Queen of Roubaix.

Follow the pair through their Paris-Roubaix journeys and go behind the scenes at a memorable edition of the classic.

Join Alison and Zoe on May 8 for the live premiere on our YouTube channel at 8pm BST where they will be answering your questions in the chat.

Rapha films presents: The Queens of the Classic

Featured Event

Paris-Roubaix Femmes

Apr. 08, 2023

View race

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Alison Jackson

Alison Jacson returns to the squad for the 2023 season after a three year hiatus, bringing with her a sprinting and classics background. She raced a strong 2022 season, winning the points competition at the Tour of Scandinavia and narrowly missing out on defending her Canadian national champion’s road title. She finished second at Drentse Acht van Westerveld, improving on her fifth place result in 2021. She is a former Canadian time trial national champion and raced in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Born in Alberta, Canada, Alison grew up wanting to work on her family’s farm. Noticing that Alison still had plenty of energy to spare after completing her chores, her parents enrolled her in just about every sport and type of dance class offered in their small town. It was only a matter of time until Alison discovered cycling as a 19-year-old. While racing in western Canada, her steady results netted her first professional contract in 2015 which was her stepping stone to European racing.

Today she divides her time between her hometown of Vermilion, Aberta, her Canadian training grounds of Abbotsford, BC, and her race base in Girona, Spain. Abbotsford is where she got her start as a cyclist and to this day she loves to catch up with friends while exploring the hills on gravel and single track trails. Her favorite ride from Girona is to climb up the backside of scenic El Far through the medieval village of Rupit.

She's not only an amazing rider, but even better leader and friend on the team. On April 8, 2023, she won Paris-Roubaix Femmes in an amazing display of grit and racing instinct.

You can also find Alison on social media where you’ll find her dancing in lycra and often getting her teammates in on the action.

Full profile

Zoe Bäckstedt

Though just 18-years-old, Zoe Bäckstedt has already built up a remarkable palmarès. At the 2022 World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, she won the junior time trial in a commanding fashion, edging out her nearest rival by over 90 seconds on the 14.1-kilometer course. Just a few days later, on her 18th birthday no less, she successfully defended her title as junior road race world champion.

Her Wollongong results, in addition to her titles of world champion in the Madison and cyclocross, make her the first rider in the history of professional cycling to hold four world champion titles simultaneously.

Between the road and cyclocross, Zoe races in EF Education-TIBCO-SVB pink year round. She joined EF Education-TIBCO-SVB mid-way through 2022 as a trainee with the goal of gaining experience and learning to adjust to the longer races at the elite level. In her first race with the team, she helped the squad win the opening team time trial and wore the best young rider’s jersey for the following stage.

For most riders, the off season is a time to slow down, but that wasn’t the case with Zoe. She packed up her childhood bedroom in Wales and moved to Belgium in order to be closer to her cyclocross training ground and races. She raced once or twice a week through most of the cyclocross season. In Nommay, Zoe finished second, standing alongside her road and CX teammate Clara Honsinger on the podium.

Bikes have been part of Zoe’s family for as long as she can remember. Her dad won Paris-Roubaix, her mom is a former British champion, and her sister also races in the WorldTour so perhaps it was inevitable that she would become a cyclist. However, before she turned pro, she grew up juggling netball, tennis, and cycling and ultimately opted to stick with cycling when training sessions began to overlap.