Rising star: Marie Schreiber is climbing the cyclo-cross ladder with SD Worx

When Marie Schreiber signed for SD Worx, as a late addition in January of 2023, the 20-year-old Luxembourgish rider was something of an unknown quantity. Coming from a nation with too few female riders to field teams in junior races, she only had a few results on the road and seemed an unlikely addition to the squad committed to superstar riders and WorldTour domination.

The reason, though, was that SD Worx didn’t want Schreiber for the road, they wanted her for her growing promise in cyclo-cross. After a baptism of fire on the road, and her first full year of racing and training with no school to balance alongside, Schreiber is now in the midst of her first full ‘cross season with SD Worx, and taking some of her best results yet.

While a lot of attention has been on serial winners Fem van Empel and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, plus the high-profile returns of Puck Pieterse and Lucinda Brand, Schreiber is one of the riders who has been floating in the often more competitive fight for the top five, and has rarely finished outside the top 10 so far this winter.

On paper, Schreiber’s results are nothing to be scoffed at and the sign of a strong, consistent rider, but it seems she’s not even at her best, still building towards her top level after a couple of physical setbacks.

“It started well with two wins, and then I had a little break for the road Europeans, and I came back to the big races which were quite good,” Schreiber told GCN in a recent call, reflecting on her season so far.

“Then I had a crash on the road, which affected me for two races. So it’s been a bit up and down, I’ve had better races and races that were not bad but not as good, but I’d say it was pretty consistent.”

The goal: to keep improving

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Cyclo-cross remains the main focus for Schreiber

Now back racing and building up to full form ahead of the busy block of festive racing, Schreiber’s attention is firmly locked on improving even further, and turning her top 10s into top fives and podiums. Still only 20, and up against an increasingly stacked women’s field, she’s also mindful of balancing ambition with reality - though she’s ticking off her goals pretty well so far.

“I know I’m not at the level yet to win any big races, but I think I’m getting there,” she explained.

“I’m getting better with every race, every season. So my goal is just to improve with every week, just finish one place higher. I set myself small goals: at the beginning of the season I said I wanted to win one of the under-23 World Cups, because last year I was on the podium many times, but I didn’t win. And I said I wanted to podium at Europeans, and I wanted at least one Superprestige or World Cup elite podium. So I don’t have that one yet, but the other two I already got, so I set myself small goals and then I just try to focus on them. And if I get, for example, third at a Superprestige, for me that’s like a win.”

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Schreiber finished second behind former teammate Zoe Bäckstedt in the U23 race at European Championships

Schreiber took second at the European Championships, and topped the U23 field for the first time at the Maasmechelen World Cup in October, so all that remains is her hopes of an elite podium, but even then the 20-year-old is hesitant to not be over-ambitious.

“I have maybe different expectations on myself than Fem [van Empel] for example, because you need to be realistic - you need to aim for the highest possible but you also still need to be realistic.”

Up against the almost unstoppable might of her peer Fem van Empel, it would be easy to think the Dutchwoman’s dominance may be frustrating for the competitors often left in her wake, but for Schreiber, the view from the riders in the race is quite different.

“In the race, you don’t really see her. I think it’s more frustrating for spectators than for us because most of the time we will have a pretty good battle for the second to 10th places. Normally it’s quite tight,” she said.

“So you have the same person winning, but then you have a good battle with a bit of different people every week [outside of that]. In the race, you don’t really think about someone who’s one minute ahead, because you can’t even see them. It’s more like on some parts of the course you see other people and then it pushes you to get more to the front.

“For me, I take it more as a motivation. I don’t really get frustrated with it, I just try to do my best and not focus so much on the rest."

Cyclo-cross will remain the main focus

When joining SD Worx, many would have been forgiven for thinking it signalled the start of a move towards the road for Schreiber, not least because that’s what the team itself suggested at the time, but for the Luxembourg rider, it’s clear that her role was to make sure the SD Worx jersey was represented all year round.

“Most people don’t know that the reason SD Worx signed me was because they wanted ‘cross riders,” Schreiber explained. “Last year, I had my final year in school so I did like two road races, and I’ve never done many international races, so I didn’t have any results. I only had small results as a junior, but I didn’t have big results in road races. So there was no chance that the best team in the world wanted me for my road performance. I knew when they signed me, ‘okay, they want me because they want ‘cross riders,’ and I was pretty much the only one who didn’t have a contract, so it was also just a bit lucky.”

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Schreiber joins Blanka Vas in flying the SD Worx colours during the CX season

As a result, Schreiber is very clear that there’s no rush, neither in her mind nor her team’s to switch to a focus on the road. This goes against the approach of many of the male multidisciplinarians - the likes of Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock all see ‘cross as a secondary pursuit to the road - but it’s increasingly popular among the female field, with riders like Fem van Empel, Zoe Bäckstedt and Schreiber all focusing their attentions on the winter.

“For now, cyclo-cross is my main focus,” she confirmed. “It’s more that I have a shorter road season because I’m using the road as preparation for the ‘cross and then having a full ‘cross season.”

“I love cyclo-cross, and it’s my main focus. It’s also the thing I’m best at, so I kind of want to really make something out of it. It would be stupid not to race if it’s the only thing I’m good at. It would be stupid to do road races when I know I can’t win there. And I’m just enjoying it so much, so for now, I’m just taking the road season as preparation for cross, and then I fully focus on the winter.

That switch of focuses may come in the future, but at only 20 years old, Schreiber has plenty of time to focus on cyclo-cross first, something she admits is unusual with a contract on the world’s best road team.

“Maybe in the future, in like two or three years when I have a certain level on the road as well, maybe then it will switch,” she said. “But for now, yes I’m in the best team in the world, but I know I’m there just to help. I know I don’t have the experience and level yet on the road to really be competing for wins in the big races, so for me, I’m just happy that I can help.”

Dropped into the deep end of the road season

Despite using the road season mainly as a learning experience and training aid, one of the benefits - or perhaps downsides - of being on a team like SD Worx is that Schreiber was thrown straight into road racing in only her first season riding alongside WorldTour pros.

“I got a bit thrown into cold water straight away. My first race with the team was the Vuelta [Femenina], which is a fairly big race,” she joked.

“It was nice. I never had any real experience, so the first days were really hard. Every day so many things were coming at me and I had to learn so much, but I really enjoyed it.”

Whilst most talented riders get to the age of 20 with some level of road experience, Schreiber explained that, owing to coming from a small cycling nation with an even smaller group of female riders, she missed out on the chance to do any international junior races with the national team, so her start in the WorldTour was a big leap.

“At first I was just really nervous, I was thinking ‘can I do this?’ or ‘what if I fuck up?’ but [the team] knew that I was new and that they couldn’t expect too much because I’d never done it. But I think I surprised myself and I also surprised them because I learn really quickly."

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Schreiber leading the peloton at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas

"It was good that it was stage racing, and we did the whole Spanish block [Vuelta Femenina, Itzulia Women, Vuelta a Burgos], so it was the same people for 14 race days. That was good for me because that was how I learned the most, when you have one day after another. I think that was easier than having one race and then two weeks later the next race.”

Schreiber’s first experience in the WorldTour peloton was a positive one and proof of how success can be measured outside of wins. Doing a job, she explained, was a more comfortable place to be than just sitting in the peloton.

“All the stage races I did we won, so it was a nice feeling to know I’d helped the team and was part of the winning team. I didn’t win myself, but I think with stage racing especially, it’s really a team sport. It feels nice when you have a job to do and then in the end someone from the team finishes it off.”

Road future and Classics dreams

Though her immediate focus is firmly on cyclo-cross, Schreiber doesn’t necessarily shy away from thinking about her longer-term career. As we’ve seen with multiple riders in recent years, a talent on the ‘cross bike can very much be indicative of good potential on the road, too.

“I won’t be a climber, that’s for sure,” she laughed when asked about the type of rider she might be in the future.

“For now the one thing I don’t like is TTs, but everyone keeps telling me that if I would focus a bit on it I’d be quite good at it. But I just don’t really like it, maybe in a while that might switch. I hope so at least, because in a way it’s a bit similar to ‘cross, and I like just going one pace, so I should be good at it, but it’s just a thing in my head.”

Like almost all off-road riders, it’s perhaps no surprise that Schreiber sees her passion in the Spring races and the events that bear the most similarities to her muddy, Belgian roots.

“I’ve not done any Classics yet, but I really like them, and I think I’d be good at them as well. The Europeans on the road this year, that’s something that really suited me with the small, punchy climbs, and I think the Flanders Classics are a bit the same. For now, it’s too early to do all of this, but in a few years that’s where I see myself, probably more than stage races.”

That may be a few years off yet, but Schreiber is already climbing cycling’s ladder, representing SD Worx with strong results in the cyclo-cross, with all signs pointing towards a bright future.