Lucinda Brand has announced that she will stop racing as a professional in April 2028, immediately after Paris-Roubaix. What is a heavy announcement for many riders gives her peace instead. 'Now it is nice to simply say: we know where the end lies, and it really has been enough in April 2028.'
Brand started her career in 2009 with the team of Leontien van Moorsel, which means she will have been in the sport for almost twenty years by the end. Later came stints at Rabobank and Team Sunweb; for the past seven years she has ridden on the road within the Lidl-Trek structure and in cyclocross for Baloise Verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions, the team of Sven Nys.
To be able to keep racing cyclocross with that team, Brand had to look for a new employer on the road. Lidl-Trek wanted its cyclocross riders to wear their road jersey in the field from now on. Brand did not want that and found a solution at Canyon//SRAM, the German team of Tour de France Femmes winner Kasia Niewiadoma. 'I am glad it is out in the open now, and that I no longer have to keep you in suspense', she says.
Logistically it does not become easier, because the two teams do not work together. 'We were able to make good agreements about that', Brand explains. 'That will be roughly in line with how we have arranged it with Lidl-Trek in recent years. I am also very grateful to the road team that we can keep adjusting the right route in consultation, also during the cyclocross season. One time I will join the road team on a training camp, the next time cyclocross takes priority.'
The two-time world champion is a fixture at the top of cyclocross and also won at the highest level on the road: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour de Suisse, GP Plouay and stages in the women's Giro d'Italia. How do you know when it has definitively been enough? 'I always secretly said: precisely because you have always performed so well, you should not keep riding until you drop, while actually it maybe is not going so well anymore', the multiple winner says honestly.
'It is also really not a problem if at some point I can no longer always compete for the podium', Brand says. 'But I do want to keep feeling that drive to compete. That is why I am very happy that it is still going well at the moment. I work hard for that every day.' So for now she simply keeps winning.
What also helps her: a very beautiful future already awaits. After Paris-Roubaix 2028 she will join the sporting management staff of Canyon//SRAM. 'In recent years I have noticed that my role as a rider has become more than just racing. In a way I already took on responsibilities that normally lie with a sporting director, and I have discovered how much I enjoy that side of the sport. I want to develop further in that.'
Want to read the full story? Read the full article on Wielerflits via the button below.