No one could match Zoe Backstedt in the women's junior individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong.

"I was going to go under 20 minutes. That was my goal." Backstedt told the media after being awarded the rainbow jersey and standing on the podium with God Save the King playing.

No other racer had ever broken 20 minutes on the 14.1 km course, but Backstedt not only achieved that goal, he beat it outright.

The 17-year-old Backstedt, who finished second in this event last year, had already gained more than a minute on her closest rival, Germany's Justyna Chapra, at the first intermediate time check at the 7.1 km mark and did not slow down from there. The daughter of former British road champions Megan Hughes and Magnus Beckstedt, she finished in 18:26.78 to take the junior world championship title by a 1:35.58 margin.

"I went into this year's race with high hopes of winning. [Basically, it was only 14 kilometers, so I was just going to run as hard as I could the whole way. If there was a moment where I could drop power, I was going to run as hard as I possibly could to get the best time."

Backstedt, winner of last year's World Championships Junior Road Race and Junior Cyclocross World Champion, averaged 45.863 km/h, over 3.6 km/h faster than her nearest competitor. Furthermore, this speed is comparable to the speed of the podium finishers in the elite women's time trial.

The junior course was slightly modified from the elite women's time trial route and was less than half the distance of the junior women's course, so it is not an exact comparison, but the Dutch winner Ellen van Dijk (average speed 46.137 km/h) and silver medalist Grace Brown ( (45.918) were the only two who recorded an average speed per hour faster than Backstedt in the time trial.

Moreover, Backstedt's time of 9:38.06, checked for the first time at the 7.1 km point where the junior and elite courses line up, was over 17 seconds faster than van Dijk's time of 9:55.52 at the same point. Backstedt, who will turn pro next season with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, said, "It would have been nice if the elite racers had done the same laps as us, maybe two laps, so we could compare times." But it was a good indicator of how I'm doing and I hope to have a good time trial on the road next year."

"But I think I could have done a reasonable time in the elite. But obviously the conditions are different, so I don't know. So I can't really say." Nevertheless, it is clear from that performance that when she steps up to the plate, she will have the eyes of her elite rivals on her.