Everything about Ellen van Dijk

Who is Ellen van Dijk?

Ellen van Dijk, born February 11, 1987, is a Dutch cyclist specializing in time trials and road races. She is known for her strong time trial skills and has won the world time trial title several times, including in 2013 and 2021. She has also won several national and international victories, including the European title and multiple stage wins in the Giro Rosa. Van Dijk rides for Lidl-Trek and is a leading force in women's cycling, with a career that makes her one of the best time trialists in the world.

Name: Ellen van Dijk
Date of birth: February 11, 1987
Birthplace: Harmelen, Netherlands
Turned pro: 2006
Height: 1.82m

Strava
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook

Ellen van Dijk second place European Championships Cronometro Elite Women; 2022

Ellen van Dijk was born Feb. 11, 1987, in Harmelen, Netherlands. She is one of the longest standing professional cyclists in the women's peloton and has built her career primarily on her talent as a time trialist and rouleur. Van Dijk currently has a contract through 2024 with LIDL-Trek.

Van Dijk began her career in 2006 with the Friends of the Countryside team, all the way through 2008 where she rode alongside compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten. That year was her first as an under-23 rider, but she picked up her first pro win in the Tour Féminin en Limousin. In 2007 , she began her rise quickly, winning a stage in the Tour of Chongming Island and the Dutch Elite Championship. At 19, she won stages in the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin, Tour Féminin en Limousin and the European Under-23 Time Trial Championships.

Read also

Everything about Lucinda Brand

In 2009 , van Dijk switched to Team Columbia Women. This was a successful year in which she captured a second consecutive title in the European Under-23 Time Trial Championships. She also won a time trial in the Profile Ladies Tour. In 2011 she took two victories, one in the Dutch race and the other in the Sparkassen Giro Bochum. In 2011 she achieved her first major victories in the pro peloton, winning the famous Ladies Tour of Qatar, as well as a stage in the Profile Ladies Tour and the Open de Suède Vargarda TTT. She also finished 6th at the World ITT Championships.

In 2012 , she signed with Team Specialized-lululemon where she picked up victories in the Energiewacht Tour, the EPZ Omloop van Borsele, two victories in the Gracia Orlova, the Dutch Time Trial Championships, a stage and classification in the Lotto-Decca Tour and TTT victories in the Brainwash Ladies Tour and World Championships. It was a big year, in which her specialty became clear and van Dijk began to play a major role in the peloton.

2013 , however, would be her big break. This year she won Le Samyn and finished on the podium of the Tour of Drenthe, Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Tour des Flandres in the spring. She also picked up a stage win in both the Energiewacht Tour and the Gracia Orlova. However, she would continue her series of success with another national ITT title, as well as wins in the Giro d'Italia, the Open de Suède Vargarda TTT, a stage and stage win in the Lotto Belison Belgium Tour and the stage win in the Boels Ladies Tour.

Her season wasn't over, however, as she became a two-time world champion in Florence, where she won both the individual and team time trial, in addition to the Chrono Champenois which advanced to the worlds. In 2014, now with Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team, van Dijk would become a monument winner when she crossed the line alone and won the Tour des Flandres. Outside of that, however, she was unable to match her results from the previous year, winning only a time trial in the Boels Rental Ladies Tour.

In 2015 , she won a stage in the Ladies Tour of Qatar and finished 2nd early in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. She won the ITT of the European Games in Azerbaijan and later focused on the World Championships, but could not get a result of significance. In 2016 , she won a stage in the Tour of Qatar, the Energiewacht Tour and the Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt, but her most significant victory came at the European Championships where she won the time trial. At the World Championships, she won the time trial with the Netherlands, but finished second in the ITT.

In 2017 , van Dijk moved to Team Sunweb, where she won the Healthy Ageing Tour early in the season in addition to a stage win. That year she won the European Time Trial Championships in Denmark, in addition to another triumph at the World Championships team time trial and a stage in the Ladies Tour of Norway. In 2018 , the Dutch rider captured the Omloop van het Hageland and Dwars door Vlaanderen in a display of power in the spring classics. Victories at the national time trial championships, International Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta and the European Time Trial Championships were also added that year.

In 2019 , van Dijk signed with Trek - Segafredo and won Dwars door Vlaanderen, a stage in the Healthy Ageing Tour and again in Thuringia, as well as again the Europeans and the TTT in Postnord Vargarda West Sweden. 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic began, was a difficult year for the Dutch rider. She failed to pick up an individual victory all year, but took podium finishes at the European and World Time Trial Championships and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

In 2021 , she turned her luck around with victories in the Healthy Ageing Tour, Lotto Belgium Tour, Giro d'Italia, before storming to a comeback with victories in the road race at the European Championships in Trento, and a rainbow jersey in the time trial in Leuven. It was her return to the rainbow stripes eight years after her first individual title.

In 2022 , she won the Volta Comunitat Valenciana, a stage and the final classification of the Easyoys Bloeizone Fryslan Tour, two stages and the final classification of the Baloise Ladies Tour. She also won the Dutch national title in the time trial, which she confirmed later that year with a third time trial title in the World Championships in Wollongong, before taking a victory in the Chrono des Nations to close out her season. Van Dijk did not race in the 2023 season because she announced her pregnancy in March. The Dutchwoman became a mother in early October.

In 2024 the veteran returned to racing very strongly, winning a time-trial at the Vuelta Extremadura, and then again at Tour de Normandie. She finished sixth at Paris-Roubaix Femmes in an impressive display of power on the classics as well and raced the Tour de France Femmes. Her goals for the season were the special time-trials in the second part of the season, the main one being the Olympic Games but she only managed an 11th place. She did ride to second at the European Championships, and then eighth at the World Championships.