Lucinda Brand is back!

At Elmos Dwars door het Hageland, the Dutch rider celebrates the first win of her 2024 road racing season

A lot of eyes were on Lucinda Brand at the start of the race and she did not disappoint. The versatile Dutch rider won Elmos Dwars door het Hageland, emphatically sprinting to victory against her compatriots De Jongh (Lotto-Dstny) and Swinkels (UAE-ADQ).

After having dominated the cyclo-cross season far and wide, and also making her mark on gravel by winning the 3RIDES Gravel Race (part of the UCI Gravel World Series), today is her first road victory. A goal that comes after a positive string of results for Lucinda, which began with important placings in races in Spain and, one week ago, a top ten in the Dwars door de Westhoek.

I'm super happy. My road season was already going well this year. I put myself at the disposal of the team and we were able to achieve great results. It's not always easy to get a personal result but the main thing is the good of the team. Today, I was the one who had to finish it off and it was really nice to make it happen - Lucinda Brand

DIEST, BELGIUM - JUNE 08: (L-R) Thalita De Jong of The Netherlands and Team Lotto Dstny Ladies on second place, race winner Lucinda Brand of The Netherlands and Team Lidl - Trek and Karlijn Swinkels of The Netherlands and UAE Team ADQ on third place pose on the podium ceremony after the 4th Dwars door het Hageland 2024, Women´s Elite a 128.3km stage from Aarschot to Diest / #UCIWWT / on June 08, 2024 in Diest, Belgium. (Photo by Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

The race in Lucinda’s words

The race was not as fast as we were expecting and even on the dirt roads nothing really happened. I was a bit disappointed because I was looking for a hard race and, of course, to have some fun on the gravel.

It didn’t really work as we wanted in the early part of the race and so I waited for the right moment to try to break the balance. On one of the shorter technical sectors, I attacked but the peloton didn’t give me a lot of space. My teammates did the same later, like Fleurs Moors, who tried a couple of gutsy attacks. Then, we decided to gamble and to wait for the sprint. It was not an easy choice for me, because the feeling at that point was not super good.

When Bredewold from SD Worx made her last attempt, we kept gambling to see the reaction of other teams. I only made sure that I was in a good position in the village, where the final climb started, and kept waiting until someone picked up the pace.

The finale was really hard, but I knew I just needed to fight till the race flares out and the moment to speed up came. It was a very hard-fought challenge, we came more or less shoulder to shoulder towards the last corner. I just kept pushing because I was sure that the one who would break the latest was able to win.

Well, in the end, that was me and that’s super cool. It was a race that I was looking forward to, that I asked the team to do. I was able to win it when I didn’t expect to at all, looking to the race situation, so it’s even more special.

Finally, I have the win I was waiting for and it’s time to enjoy it. Who knows what more comes, but this one is already really nice.