The Telenet-Baloise Lions cyclocross team officially became the Baloise Trek Lions on January 1, and Lucinda Brand unveiled the new jerseys on New Year's Eve. The Baloise Trek Lions unveiled their new jerseys, which are black with red and blue accents and the team's title sponsor in white on the chest, collar, and sleeves.

Brand had an exceptional cyclocross season, securing 10 wins, including eight in her last 10 starts, to top the Women's World Cup, Superprestige, and X2O Badkamers Trofee standings.

The Baloise Trek Lions, led by program manager Sven Nys, have 35 podium finishes this year between Brand, Toon Arts, and Lars van der Haar.

"We have a lot of riders we want to support, from young kids to the elite category. I think our sponsors, Barroise and Trek, have the same vision in terms of how we want to work together as a team."

The team's sponsors include Baloise Insurance, Trek, SRAM, Renotech, Bontrager, and AA Drinks.

"There is definitely a difference between having Trek in the name and not having Trek in the name. And it will help us to show the world how hard we are working, not only in Belgium, but more internationally." [The connection with sponsors is really important. If you can work with sponsors who are interested in the riders themselves, you can see that directly. Because the rider becomes a fan of the sponsor."

The team also supports the promising youth development team AA Drink along with junior riders, and among their under-23 riders are Yentl Bekaert, Ward Uibs, Marte Trujen, and Tibau Nys, who are currently racing in the elite ranks, Shirin van Aloys.

"The biggest difference [in the team] is the boys from the junior category, who hardly raced on the road last season due to viruses. They will be racing stage races for the first time with professional riders, which will not only give them more confidence, but also more power, more speed, as they will be racing longer distances."

"If we work together and also give them time to recover from the stage races, next year will be a really good cyclocross season. I'm looking forward to that."

Van Aloy, who signed with Trek-Segafredo for the Women's WorldTour in 2021, suffered a crash at the World Cup in Tabor in late November. The team has not yet determined when she will return, but confirmed that the Lions are supporting her in every way possible, both for her immediate recovery and for her preparation for this year.

"It's better to wait a week longer than to come back too soon, because instead of taking one step forward, you might end up taking two steps back," Nace said of Juan Alloy's recovery.

"If she's running at that level on the road, you can imagine the more volume, the more experience she's going to give us when she comes into cyclocross. Lucinda and Toon's experience, combined with the young riders coming up, will create a higher level."

Beyond this, the Baloise Trek Lions will concentrate on the Belgian Championships on January 10, with Aerts in the elite and Tibau Nys in the under 23. Brand, van der Haar, and van Aloy were scheduled to compete in the Dutch Championships, but this event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The team then set its sights on the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Oostende, where Brand has finished on the podium three times and is favored to win the world title in 2021.

"Lucinda is the strongest rider in the competition. She is leading in all GC classes, including World Cup, X2O, and Superprestige," Nys said. 'Yeah, it's a big confidence booster. But a lot of the girls she's skating with are also pretty strong, and the sand at the World Championships is special. So we are training, working hard, and hopefully she can become the first world champion of her career."