International Women – Meet the Stars

World champions, Olympic champions, Tour de France jersey winners and YouTube superstars – we have a host of talented and inspirational women for you to meet at The Cycle Show. Join them at Alexandra Palace in April. 

ZOE BÄCKSTEDT

Zoe is a teenage phenomenon and current world champion across four different junior disciplines – road race, time-trial, cyclo-cross and Madison – wide-ranging talent not seen since the great Marianne Vos first lit up the world stage. Give her a bike, any bike, and she will race it to win. And, more often than not, she will succeed.

Zoe comes from a family of out-and-out winners. Father Magnus was Paris-Roubaix champion in 2004; mother Megan Jones took the British National road race Championships in 1998; sister Elynor is a World Track Championships medallist who races for Trek-Segafredo on the road. Zoe races for EF Education-TIBCO-SVB for the 2023 season, for both cyclo-cross and road racing. She is definitely one to watch.

SHANAZE READE

BMX made its Olympic debut in 2008 at Beijing and Shanaze was the sport’s undoubted star, despite crashing out in memorably spectacular fashion in the final. A multiple world champion in her chosen field, Reade also competed successfully in the velodrome, with two world titles to her credit with Victoria Pendleton in the team sprint, and is an ambassador for the Glasgow 2023 World Championships. 

BETH SHRIEVER

Undoubtedly the homegrown story of the 2020 Olympics. The young Londoner self-financed her way to Tokyo by crowdfunding, blazed to brilliant gold on the BMX track and was tossed in the air by team-mate and fellow medallist Kye Whyte – brilliant scenes! Taking the World Championships rainbow stripes the following year was the icing on the cake, followed by the European title in 2022. Beth was awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours list in recognition of her services to the sport. 

VIOLA BRAND

If you’ve never seen Artistic Cycling, included in the UCI World Championships in Glasgow for the first time this summer, you are in for a treat. Imagine the floor exercise in gymnastics but on two wheels – amazing skills. We’ll have Viola Brand, one of the world’s finest exponents of the art and an Instagram and YouTube megastar, showing off her fabulous routines every day of the show, her debut appearance in England. Not to be missed.

PHILIPPA YORK

Philippa, formerly Robert Millar, was the first British winner of the Tour de France King of the Mountains competition, taking the polka dot jersey in 1984. During her glittering cycling career, she also won three Tour de France stages, the mountains classification at the Giro d’Italia (1987), alongside Tour of Britain (1989), Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (1990) and was British national road race champion in 1995.

Philippa writes for the likes of Rouleur magazine and Cycling News, alongside TV punditry work for the Tour de France and Tour of Britain. She also possesses an extremely dry and acerbic sense of humour. Enjoy! 

TAHNÉE SEAGRAVE

London-born downhiller Tahnée grew up in the French Alps, close to the famous course of Les Gets, where she honed her considerable skills before becoming junior world champion in 2013. A World Cup and World Champs podium regular ever since, Seagrave suffered a serious concussion injury that wiped out her 2022 season, chronicled in the excellent Canyon Bicycles YouTube series How We Roll. Here’s to a successful and healthy 2023, Tahnée! 

CHANEL DOWSETT

Chanel, alongside partner and recently retired professional cyclist Alex Dowsett, runs the Thighs Club Channel on YouTube, covering topics ranging from endurance riding hints and tips to cafe rides, to Chanel’s recent Ironman Triathlon debut – balancing two athletes’ training schedules with parenting and life in general (Chanel is also a qualified barrister).  

The mix of a relative newcomer cyclist, paired with an expert in the field – Alex won 6 national titles and 2 Giro D’Italia stages – plus the couple’s personalities, are a winning combination, with big followings across the board on social media platforms.