Lucinda Brand had to settle for the second position in X2O Trofee Herentals. The Dutchwoman was no match for
Puck Pieterse and finished almost 30 seconds behind her.
Her achievement in the overall standing in X2O Trofee compensated for her loss. “Yes, who would have thought? That does come as a surprise," Brand said in the post-race interview. She continues, “'It felt better than last week, so that's nice. I felt the pedal strokes were hitting more, although I was still on my butt straight away. So there is still some work to do.”
Having missed cross races for nearly two weeks last month, she feared her skills would become rusty. Fortunately, that didn't happen. “If I didn't get better, I would be sad, though, with all the work we put in. Fortunately, things are going in the right direction,” Brand said.
Finally, she talks about the dangerous descent of the ski mountain. “I had a lot of trouble to be in my pedals straight away and if I'm not in them, I can't keep my foot on the pedal. Maybe I have stiff hamstrings or something, but it was tricky with all that bouncing. It was a bit clumsy at times,” concluded Brand.