The Dutch rider produced an impressive sprint in Belgium
The impressive results from our women’s squad keep on coming with yet another podium place at GP Lucien Van Impe, as Lucinda Brand sprinted to a hard-fought second place.
The team had been working towards another sprint opportunity for Elisa Balsamo, but the Italian’s race came to an unfortunate end after a crash. With Balsamo out, the squad regrouped and supported Brand – and the Dutchwoman responded impressively.
It was a demanding, rain-soaked 140-kilometre race around Erpe-Mere, but Lidl-Trek were alert at the front of the bunch. Loes Adegeest launched a promising late attack but was reeled back in the closing kilometer. Behind, Brand positioned herself perfectly for the finale and launched her sprint from the front group. Despite a powerful acceleration, she was narrowly beaten to the line. It was another impressive display of the depth and versatility within the Lidl-Trek squad.
Balsamo was taken to hospital for checks following her crash and had three stitches in her forehead. Luckily, no fractures were found. We will provide further updates if necessary and wish her all the best in recovery.
In Lucinda's worlds
The race started calm, but then we went on a big loop and it started raining, so it split there. Everyone was good in our team and we were at the front with four of us. We came on the local laps and then the bunch became bigger again so we tried some times to create a break, but it was not really working.
We still had the plan to do a late attack with Loes and then Elisa would sprint. But then Elisa crashed which was a big pity. We kept the plan of Loes’ attack and I said I would follow the sprinters so that’s how we did it.
It’s nice that we could finish as high as possible but it’s fair to say that it’s not realistic for me to beat a rider like Kool in a sprint like that. In the end we had a good race as a team but bad luck with Elisa. We took the best from it and it’s good we could change so quickly in the final to another plan.
