Thijs Zonneveld doubts Ellen van Dijk's Olympic nomination after she admits that "she was afraid of falling" following her ankle injury

Despite breaking her ankle just seven weeks before the Olympic time trial, Ellen van Dijk was able to return just in time to pull off the eleventh time on the day. Her effort is commendable, however there are voices that maybe her spot in Paris could've been given to another, more fit, rider.

Thijs Zonneveld shared his thoughts on the podcast In het Wiel: "I thought about it for a long time. It's a complicated issue. She qualified correctly and got the spot based on her performance, but then she broke her ankle seven weeks ago and a new selection process actually starts."  

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Van Dijk showed in a test a week and a half before the Games that she was in shape. But pedaling away wattages is something different than cycling through Paris in the rain. "The selection was made based on that power data. You could also say: send all your training data. But from what I understand it was really about that moment, when there was a lot of pressure."

Zonneveld finds it strange that only power was considered. "When I heard Van Dijk talk afterwards that she was afraid of falling and that if she had fallen, she would not have been able to click in and out. I wonder if that was taken into account in the decision."

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He believes there was a better adept for the Olympic roster spot: "It's great that she reached this level, but it's the Games after all. There was someone who stayed home who was almost as good as her: Riejanne Markus. I understand that she watched that Olympic time trial with a jerky feeling."

Zonneveld emphasizes that he does not blame Van Dijk. "I understand her well. She has qualified and must also believe that it is possible. If she can hold on to data, she has every right to hold on to it completely. You cannot expect her to give up that place."

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