"This is nothing compared to childbirth" - indestructible Ellen van Dijk comes 6th at Paris-Roubaix Femmes
Cycling
Ellen van Dijk's reservoir of strength was bottomless at Paris-Roubaix Femmes. The Lidl-Trek rider made numerous attempts to ride away from the leading group, but was unable to go clear and so the 37-year-old rider sacrificed herself to prepare a sprint for her Italian teammate Elisa Balsamo, crossing the line sixth herself.
"I could keep going, but I lacked the punch and couldn't make a difference," said Van Dijk at NOS. "It was a nice race, where you can go far with a big engine. I just couldn't make the difference. I have always had that lack of explosiveness, but after a year and a half without racing that is even further away."
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"But I am very happy with my form, that I am so good so quickly. Last year I did analyzes here for NOS, and now I am very happy with how I can ride Roubaix six months after giving birth. This is nothing compared to childbirth," she laughed. "I'm happy with how things are going. The engine is fine."
In the ultimate final, Van Dijk put herself at the service of Balsamo, her teammate at Lidl-Trek. However, the Italian narrowly lost out to Lotte Kopecky in the sprint. "It's super sour. We had a lot of confidence in Elisa. It was an advantage that she has track experience, but Kopecky has that experience too, haha. We wanted to let Vos do the work, which worked, but Elisa fell just short. Kopecky was able to save enough. I couldn't get away myself, so this was the way to do it."
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It’s impressive but I don’t get her comment. Obviously it’s nothing compared to childbirth, it’s not comparable! Most women go through childbirth and manage (even if today some opt for « easier » versions and it is harder or easier for sone than others). Many actually voluntarily repeat the experience and some even seem to be happy to take a subscription. Very few women (or men) go through with what it takes to reach that level of physical achievement, it’s just completely different, not comparable so please don’t compare, unless you we’re saying you weren’t giving it your all like you had to during childbirth and could have done better??? Anyway, congratulations for both events :-)
Not bad for a rider who returns from maternity leave recently
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- Not just the crash, it was also bad positioning when the first attack of Pogi came.abstractengineer07-04-2025
- ahhh, I don't know it, yes, I'm used to 7 days of antibiotic therapy. Thank you for the information!
maria2024202407-04-2025 - So in the end he did pretty well tactically too :-)Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Why Maria, what is your reasoning? He was already ill during E3, thought he’d get over it but it got worse which is probably when he took them. His doc will be amongst the best-informed and his infection perfectly analysed. Read this and stop relying on generalised outdated assumptions about antibiotical treatment, part of the reason they may soon no longer be effective at all. “ In 2008, one of us (L.B.R.) posited that of the different ways the medical community could reduce the amount of antibiotic treatment prescribed, the one that seemed safest and most achievable was to treat infections only for as long as necessary to achieve optimal cure rates (1). It is difficult and potentially dangerous for providers not to prescribe antibiotics at all, but it should be easier to convince them not to prescribe antibiotics for so long. The evidentiary basis of traditional durations of antibiotic therapy is that a week is 7 days (2), which is why tried-and-true antibiotic regimens are 7 to 14 days long. The definition of a week was decreed by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great nearly 2000 years ago (2). This seems an unsatisfactory evidentiary basis for modern medical practice. Fortunately, in recent years, more than 45 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared the efficacy of short-course versus traditional, longer courses of antibiotic therapy for the treatment of community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia, acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and sinusitis, complicated urinary and intra-abdominal infections, Gram-negative bacteremia, acute bacterial skin infections, osteomyelitis and septic arthritis, and even neutropenic fever (3, 4). All RCTs for these diseases and 2 meta-analyses of these RCTs (5, 6) found no difference in efficacy between shorter and traditional courses of antibiotic therapy. Of note, the short-course regimens that were studied were typically not based on Constantine’s 7-day week. For pneumonia specifically, 8 RCTs have shown that 3- to 5-day courses of antibiotic therapy are at least as effective as 7- to 14-day courses for community-acquired pneumonia”Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Totally. There may still be some details to disgust us but it won’t change anything to the basics of what happened and that the punishment was totally appropriate. If there was/is anything relevant to add, nothing is stopping him from doing that, he hasthe platform and connections and know-how how to defend himself in precarious affairs so why hesitate??? No use to your ego once you’re dead ;-) Barring a Trump pardon and awarding of fake US TdF titles, I don’t see it happening on this planetMistermaumau07-04-2025
- Silly comment in light of what was revealed post-race. Obviously the illness affected him on the day, he was even outsprinted by MP and Wout kept up with him.Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Meaning, if dad was asked before he knew of the top secret* illness he wouldn’t have been able to integrate it into his “analysis”. * knowing how he likes talking, I expect it was kept secret even from him so as not to give things away.Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Yes, but you have to take into account the order of interviews and the spread of knowledgeMistermaumau07-04-2025
- The truth is already out. Thats what the purpose of the testimony he gave was. Nevermind someone innocent would not have ruined so many lives in the process. If he somehow was ever allowed back in pro cycling or his records restored, not only would it be a travesty for Justice in sport, but it would be the end of cycling. Already done so much damage, and continues to by making stupid statements on his podcast to stay relevant. If he actually had any respect for the sport, or other people, he'd stop treating the world like fools and own his past and present. Not try and make up sob stories. Especially when all they do is highlight his entitlement and privilege.HoopoeChai07-04-2025
- "very sick" but only 3 antibiotic days? strange.maria2024202407-04-2025