Magnus Bäckstedt

Personal information
Full name	Magnus Bäckstedt
Nickname	Magnus Maximus
Date of birth	January 30, 1975 (1975-01-30) (age 33)
Country	Sweden
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	94 kg (210 lb/14.8 st)
Team information
Current team	Garmin-Chipotle
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
1996–1997 1998–2001 2002–2003 2004 2005–2007 2008–	Collstrop-Palmans Crédit Agricole Team Fakta Alessio-Bianchi Liquigas Slipstream
Major wins
Paris-Roubaix (2004) Tour de France, 1 stage

Magnus Bäckstedt (born January 30, 1975 in Linköping, Östergötland) is a Swedish professional road bicycle racer for Garmin-Chipotle. His greatest achievement was winning the Paris-Roubaix in 2004. Since Bäckstedt stands 193 cm (6'4") tall and weighs 94 kg (207 lbs), he is one of the biggest riders in professional cycling, and has earned the nickname 'Big Magnus'.

Bäckstedt started his professional career in 1996 riding for Collstrop before moving to the Palmans team in 1997. It was in 1998 when, having switched to GAN, Bäckstedt made his breakthrough. He secured a seventh placing in Paris-Roubaix and later that year followed up on the success with victory on 19th stage of the 1998 Tour de France between Chaux-de-Fonds and Autun. GAN was renamed Crédit Agricole from the 1999 season and Bäckstedt would ride in the team until 2001 without re-creating the great results of 1998.

In 2002 and 2003 he rode for Team Fakta where he was the strongest rider in the 2003 season. When Team Fakta closed down he went to Alessio-Bianchi where he finally saw major success return with the win of the 2004 Paris-Roubaix. In 2005 he moved to Liquigas-Bianchi, and on the 7th stage of the 2005 Tour de France he was second.

For 2008, Bäckstedt is riding for Garmin-Chipotle

Palmarès

External links

• Official website
• Danish Cycle Union profile
• VELOBIOS profile

References