World cyclo-cross champion Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) will not compete in the first women's Paris-Roubaix race on October 2.

Starting with the Superprestige in Gieten (October 3), the Dutch rider will travel to the US to compete in the Waterloo World Cup (October 10), Fayetteville World Cup (October 13), and Iowa City World Cup (October 17). The team will travel to the United States to compete in the Waterloo World Cup (October 10), Fayetteville World Cup (October 13), and Iowa City World Cup (October 17).

"With Covid still moving some races to the end of the season, we already knew that the cyclocross calendar would overlap. We don't want to miss the first race of the competition," Brand told Cyclingnews Monday. [Paris-Roubaix is] a really tough race because you have a cyclo-cross race the next day and then the day after that you're flying to the US to race three World Cup races right after each other.

Brand won the world cyclocross title and the overall World Cup series last fall and winter, and had a strong early season on the road in 2021, winning the overall title in the Thuringian Ladies Tour and the Giro d'Italia Donne mountain prizes.

Brand renewed her two-year contract with Trek-Segafredo and will remain with the team through the end of the 2023 season. During the cyclocross season, she will compete under the name Baloise Trek and intends to compete on the full 2021-2022 cyclocross calendar.

The first women's Paris-Roubaix was added to the Women's World Tour on October 25, 2020, but was cancelled due to COVID-19. A second cancellation from April of this year has resulted in the first event being scheduled for October 2, 2021.

Brand would have been welcomed by the team. However, several riders, including former world champion Lizzie Deignan, have made it clear that they want to win the first edition and that she is focused on doing well in the cobbled classic race.

Brand initially signed a contract with Trek-Segafredo to be one of the team leaders in 2020. However, COVID-19 interrupted her racing early in the season, and she also became ill during a calendar revision last year. After a long recovery, she returned for an outstanding performance in the cyclocross season, but said she needed to be careful with her health and could not compete in every race.

She aims to be on the start line in Paris-Roubaix next year.

"I have jet lag, which is a really tough combination. I have to be a little bit careful with my body. Sometimes you have to make decisions and this time it wasn't easy, but there is cyclo-cross before Roubaix. Obviously, I would like to be in Roubaix in six months time and hopefully by then Roubaix will be back to its normal place on the calendar."