Everything about... Ellen van Dijk - Women's fastest time-trialist
Cycling
Ellen van Dijk is a professional cyclist currently racing for the Trek-Segafredo women's team. She is the current World time-trial champion, a title she has conquered on three occasions. Van Dijk is one of the most successful riders in modern cycling, having in her palmarès several high-level wins aswell in races such as the Tour de Flandres, European Championships, Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta and 5 overall wins at the Healthy Ageing Tour. You can check out the biography at all times by clicking here.
Name: Ellen van Dijk
Born: 11 February 1987
Birthplace: Harmelen, Netherlands
Turned Pro: 2006
Height: 1.82m
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Ellen van Dijk was born on the 11th of February 1987 in Harmelen, Netherlands. She is one of the longest standing pro riders in the women's peloton and has had her career mostly built out of her talent as a time-trialist and rouleur. Van Dijk currently has a contract until 2024 with Trek - Segafredo.
Van Dijk started her career in 2006 with the Vrienden van het Platteland team, all the way into 2008 where she raced together with compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten. That year was her first as an under-23 rider, but she took her first pro win at the Tour Féminin en Limousin. In 2007 she quickly began rising up the ranks, winning a stage at the Tour of Chongming Island and the Elite Dutch national championships. Om 2'19 sje won stages at the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin, Tour Féminin en Limousin and the under-23 time-trial European Championhips.
In 2009 van Dijk moved to Team Columbia Women. This was a successful year, with her taking a second consecutive title in the under-23 time-trial European championships. She's also won a time-trial at the Profile Ladies Tour. In 2011 she had two wins, one again in the Dutch race, and the other at the Sparkassen Giro Bochum. 2011 saw her first big wins in the pro peloton, winning the famous Ladies Tour of Qatar, aswell as a stage in the Profile Ladies Tour and the Open de Suède Vargarda TTT. She also finished 6th at the ITT World Championships.
In 2012 she signed with Team Specialized-lululemon where she took wins at the Energiewacht Tour, the EPZ Omloop van Borsele, two wins at the Gracia Orlova, the Dutch time-trial national championships, a stage and GC at the Lotto-Decca Tour and TTT wins at the Brainwash Ladies Tour and World Championships. It was a big year, where her speciality became evident and van Dijk started to be a big part of the peloton.
2013 would be her big breakthrough however. This year she won Le Samyn and finished on the podium of the Ronde van Drenthe, Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Tour ddes Flandres in the spring, aswell as taking GC - and stage - wins at both the Energiewacht Tour and the Gracia Orlova. She would keep her success streak running however with another ITT national title, aswell as a win at the Giro d'Italia, the Open de Suède Vargarda TTT, a stage and GC win at the Lotto Belison Belgium Tour, and the GC win at the Boels Ladies Tour.
Her season was yet to end however, as she became double World Champion in Firenze, winning both individual and team time-trial races, alongside the Chrono Champenois that anticipated the worlds. In 2014, now with Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team, van Dijk would become a monument winner as she crossed the line alone to win the Tour des Flandres. Outside of that she couldn't match her results of the past year however, winning only a time-trial at the Boels Rental Ladies Tour.
2015 would see her win a stage at the Ladies Tour of Qatar and finish 2nd at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad early on. She won the European Games ITT in Azerbaijan, and put her focus on the world championships later on, but could not grab a meaningful result. In 2016 she would win a stage at the Tour of Qatar, the Energiewacht Tour, at the Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt, but her main win would come at the European Championships where she won the time-trial event. At the Worlds she won the TTT event 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 on in the season alongside a stage win. She won the European time-trial Championships in Denmark that year, alongside another triumph at the World Championships' team time-trial and a stage at the Ladies Tour of Norway. In 2018 the Dutch rider conquered Omloop van het Hageland and Dwars door Vlaanderen in a display of power in the spring classics. Wins at the time-trial national championships, Internationale Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta and European Championships' time-trial were added aswell that year.
In 2019 van Dijk signed with Trek - Segafredo, winning Dwars door Vlaanderen, a stage at the Healthy Ageing Tour and in Thüringen again, aswell as the Europeans once again and the TTT at Postnord Vargarda WestSweden. 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic began, was a rough one for the Dutch rider, failing to take any individual victory throughout the year, however having podium finishes at the European and World Championships' time-trials and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
In 2021 she turned her luck around with wins at the Healthy Ageing Tour, Lotto Belgium Tour, Giro d'Italia, before storming to a comeback with wins at 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 8 years after her first individual title.
In 2022 she took wins at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana, a stage and GC at the Easyoys Bloeizone Fryslan Tour, two stages and GC at the Baloise Ladies Tour. She's also won the Dutch national title in the time-trial, which she later that year backed up with a third time-trial title in the World Championships at Wollongong, before taking a win at the Chrono des Nations to finish her season.
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