Determined Lucinda Brand heads to CX World Championships as "a more complete cyclocross rider" than ever before

35-year-old Lucinda Brand has been consistently proving age is just a number this winter, taking on and beating her much younger cyclocross rivals Puck Pieterse and Fem van Empel among others. As such, the Baloise Glowi Lions star heads to the upcoming World Championships one of the favourites for the Rainbow Jersey.

“Right now, more riders are racing on this very, very high level, which makes it way harder,” Brand says in a Trek press release ahead of this weekend's Rainbow Jersey fight in Lievin. “So in that way, I think this season is stronger. I think I’m a better rider. Maybe not physically better, but a more complete cyclocross rider. All the other skills you need are getting better and better, and that’s how I’ve ended up doing such a great season, I think.”

With the Lievin course, by almost all experts accounts, more favoured to the power riders, it seems to be a very well-suited course for Brand herself. The Dutch star now has to balance outside expectations with her own ambitious goals for the race.

“When I raced World Championships as a younger rider, of course it was a different experience. You don’t always know what’s coming, what you can expect,” Brand concludes. “But now it’s more like a healthy way of excitement and nerves towards the race. And luckily I am experiencing it, because otherwise I think it should be time to quit [laughs]. I also know when I’m getting a bit nervous, I can do a good race. So this is really good.”