Lucinda Brand is currently in top form: the 36-year-old cyclocross rider for Baloise Glowi Lions is winning one race after another this winter. However, she has had to take a long road to reach this level. During the Christmas holidays, she looked back on her remarkable journey to the top on Instagram.
"Becoming a cyclocross racer was never really the plan," Brand begins her story. "It started as a way to stay fit in the winter. Little Lucinda only rode a few cross races per season. One bike. That was it. Carrying the bike on my shoulder? Running up hills? I had no idea. My brother had to explain everything. I was terrible at it, but wow… I had so much fun!"
'Pure chaos'
In 2013, Brand signed with Rabobank-Liv Giant, Marianne Vos' team. "Seeing her, the GOAT, ride through the field was incredible. When Anna van der Breggen joined the team, we started racing cross together. We arrived in a tiny Renault Twingo, parked among the big campers of the cyclocross stars. I still remember meeting Thijs Al just before the start. He looked at my clincher tires (outer tires that require a separate inner tube, ed.), laughed, and asked, 'Are you really going to race on those?'"
"The races that followed were pure chaos. I fell about 100 times per race, probably enough for a great YouTube fail compilation. But every time I got back up. I could make a difference on the power sections, only to lose it all again on the descents."
Lucinda Brand| Year | Team |
|---|---|
| 2026 | |
| 2026 | |
| 2025 | |
| 2025 | |
| 2024 |
In 2017, Brand made the move from Rabobank to Team Sunweb. "After my time at Rabobank, I really wanted to grow as a cyclocross racer, but unfortunately, cyclocross was not a top priority at my new team. And without that focus, I couldn’t develop as I had hoped. Honestly, it didn’t take long before I was close to saying goodbye to both road cycling and cyclocross."
"And then… Sven Nys called. He saw potential. A project. And most importantly: he believed. Together we went back to the woods, worked on every detail, and step by step, I fell in love with cyclocross again," says Brand, who became world champion in Ostend in 2021 and is absolutely unbeatable this winter. "This Christmas, I’m enjoying every race, every challenge, every tricky line, and all the warmth that comes with it."
Record
Brand’s results this season speak for themselves. She has won fourteen of her sixteen races so far, finishing second twice. She has now stood on the podium at a cyclocross race 57 (!) times in a row. With her 52nd consecutive podium (in Terralba), she definitively surpassed Marianne Vos (who once had 51 consecutive podium finishes).
"Marianne has more records than I can count, so I’m proud to have achieved one: the record for most consecutive podium finishes. That streak will end someday, but the joy, gratitude, and love for cyclocross… those remain. Merry Crossmas!"
Lucinda Brand| Race | Date |
|---|---|
 X²O Badkamers Trofee Azencross - Loenhout | 29 Dec |
| Dutch National Championships CX | 11 Jan |
