Magnus Bäckstedt
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Magnus Bäckstedt |
| Nickname | Magnus Maximus |
| Date of birth | January 30, 1975 |
| Country |  Sweden |
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| Weight | 94 kg (210 lb; 14.8 st) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Classics specialist |
| Professional team(s)1 | |
| 1996–1997 1998–2001 2002–2003 2004 2005–2007 2008 |
Collstrop-Palmans Crédit Agricole Team Fakta Alessio-Bianchi Liquigas Garmin-Chipotle |
| Major wins | |
| Paris-Roubaix (2004) Tour de France, 1 stage |
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| Infobox last updated on: | |
| November 14, 2007
1 Team names given are those prevailing |
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Magnus Bäckstedt (born Linköping, Östergötland, Sweden, 30 January 1975)[1] is a retired Swedish professional road bicycle racer.
He began as a skier, selected for the national team when he was 14.[2] His greatest achievement in cycling is winning Paris-Roubaix in 2004. Bäckstedt is 1m93 (6ft 4in) tall and weighs 94kg (207lb)[3]. He is one of the biggest riders in professional cycling.
Bäckstedt began as a professional career in 1996[4], riding for Collstrop before moving to Palmans in 1997. In 1998, having switched to GAN, Bäckstedt came seventh in Paris-Roubaix and won the 19th stage of the 1998 Tour de France between Chaux-de-Fonds and Autun.
In 2002 and 2003 he rode for Team Fakta where he was the strongest rider in 2003. When Fakta closed he went to Alessio-Bianchi, where he won the 2004 Paris-Roubaix. The two favourites, Peter van Petegem and Johan Museeuw dropped out after crashes, leaving Bäckstedt to sprint on the track at Roubaix against two others.[5] The manager of Crédit Agricole, Roger Legeay, had predicted that Bäckstedt would one day win the race. He said: "He's not a flahute[6]. He's not especially the fastest, but after 260km on the cobbles, it's often the rider who feels freshest who wins."[7]
In 2005 Bäckstedt moved to Liquigas-Bianchi, and came second on the 7th stage of the 2005 Tour de France. He rode for Garmin-Chipotle in 2008.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10]
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[edit] Private life
He is married to a British former international, Megan Hughes. They live in Wales[11], moving there from Zulte, near Waregem, in Belgium.[12] They have two daughters.[13] Backstedt said: "We used to come back here [to Wales] every 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."[14]
His sister, Cecilia, is also a racing cyclist.[15]
Bäckstedt runs a coffee business with franchises in the US and Sweden. Proceeds supporting Swedish cycling.[16]
[edit] Palmarès
- 1996
- Boland Bank Tour - 1st ; 2 stage wins
- GP D'Isbergues - 2nd
- 1997
- GP D'Isbergues
- 1998
- Tour de France - Stage 19 winner
- Tour of Sweden - 1 stage
- Four days of Dunkirk - Sprints competition winner
- Postgiro - - 2nd overall; Stage 4B winner
- 2000
- National championship - 2nd
- 2002
- Sweden National champion
- GP Fayt le Franc
- 2003
- Sweden National time trial champion
- Giro d'Italia - Intergiro competition winner
- Sweden National Championships - 2nd place
- Nokere-Koerse - 2nd place
- GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise - 2nd place
- 2004
- Paris-Roubaix
- Gent-Wevelgem - 2nd
- CSC Classic - 2nd
- 2005
- Tour de France - 2nd, stage 7
- 2007
- Sweden National champion
- 2008
- 2nd, stage 3B, Three Days of de Panne
- 1st, stage 1 (giro d'Italia team time trial)
[edit] External links
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Peter van Petegem |
Winner of Paris-Roubaix 2004 |
Succeeded by Tom Boonen |
[edit] References
- ^ L'Équipe, France, 12 April 2004
- ^ Vélo, France, undatec cutting
- ^ L'Équipe, France, 12 April 2004
- ^ http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/CyclismeFicheCoureur324.html
- ^ http://www.letour.fr/stf/roubaix/2004/fr/
- ^ A cycling word for an old-style, tough Belgian rider who does best in the worst conditions.
- ^ L'Équipe, France, 12 April 2004
- ^ "Backstedt Bound For Slipstream-Chipotle". londoncyclesport.com. August 7, 2007. http://londoncyclesport.com/news/article/mps/UAN/2968/v/1/sp/. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
- ^ http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/South_Wales_with_Magnus_Backstedt_article_271438.html
- ^ http://velonews.com/article/87355/
- ^ Cycling Weekly, UK, 22 November 2003
- ^ L'Équipe, France, 12 April 2004
- ^ http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6483
- ^ Cycling Weekly, UK, 22 November 2003
- ^ http://www.siteducyclisme.net/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=29350
- ^ http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6483
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