Lucinda Brand is slowly getting back on track after recovering from a broken hand in a crash before the Tabor World Cup in October.

Former world champion Lucinda Brand returned to racing this month, finishing fourth in the World Cup in Auveraise.

"I knew it would be difficult, but if you don't play an important role at all, it's very strange and difficult," Brand said in an interview with WielerFlits (opens in new tab) about the November 13 World Cup Beekse Bergen in the Netherlands, where she finished seventh

Brand said.

Brand was on the podium at the opening World Cup races in Waterloo and Fayetteville, but fractured his metacarpal (one of the bones between the finger and wrist) in the front run of the course at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup Tabor on October 23.

She underwent surgery in Belgium the next day and wore a cast.

She was forced to miss her title defense at the UEC Cyclocross European Championships.

Brand returned to the Beekse Bergen World Cup, but only finished seventh, unable to compete in the race with Shirin van Anrooij, Fem van Empel, and Puck Pieterse on the podium.

"I felt like I wasn't in the race. I was cycling in no man's land the whole time," Brand said.

She improved her performance with a fourth-place finish at Superprestige Marksplus and last weekend's World Cup Ovelaise.

"I should be happy with this," Brand said. "I've really improved this weekend. Last week I was really out of shape."

"I'm really happy with my performance," Brand said.

During his recovery, Brand said he spent a lot of time training indoors and hopes to quickly rebuild his form for the upcoming season.

"I was able to train a little bit, but not like usual. My training time was pretty short, I had to cycle a lot indoors, and I couldn't cross train. Everything was different. I had a good training session, at least I hope so. At least, I hope so," Brand said.