"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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- You might bounce more for the same power, but not the same speed. Sending 20 kgs over a jump at 20 kph will fly just as far as 10 kgs at the same speed. Again, Galileo demonstrated this.acem8204-04-2025
- So, you're saying that doing a bunch of small hops on a bike is easier if you're heavier? Why do people buy lighter bikes, then? Why do they generally feel better and faster? An appeal to "rhythm" is not helpful either, as the right "rhythm" might be on the lighter or heavier side of things, and as it varies, it's likely a wash either way. Then we are left with the physics truth that it takes less power to lift lighter things than heavier things.acem8204-04-2025
- No, weight doesn't affect the ability to go into the wind at all. It's all CdA vs power at that point. For example, it's "obvious" that a heavier object falls faster than a lighter one. But, absent wind resistance, it's not true (Galileo demonstrated this). An appeal to "obviousness" doesn't matter when the physics is clear. And yes, you have to be able to hold everything else constant, or you can't determine anything! So, imagine a 300 watt rider at 80 kgs with a CdA of 2.0, then imagine that same rider at 70 kgs with a CdA of 2.0. (Assume ideal tire pressure for both, same bike.) Which one can ride over a bumpy road fastest? The lighter one, as he doesn't have to lift as much. That's also why when they test bikes on 5 star cobbled sectors, the MTB goes faster than even a cobble-build road bike. Even though rolling resistance is higher on a flat road, and the CdA is junk, it smooths out the cobbles, allowing the person to not lift as much as they otherwise would.acem8204-04-2025
- I disagree. If you have lower weight, you will bounce more at the same speed, meaning that you will spend more time in the air and shorter time on the ground, as a consequence, when you are on the ground you have to produce more force for the same speedvappaxbipmv04-04-2025
- That’s not quite true, even steep climbs and sudden gradient changes can be considered as remaining tangential to the wheel whereas the occasional dip between cobbles a wheel drops into cannot, as such riding over cobbles can become like a permanent surmounting of small obstacles that hit back into your wheel slowing you drastically if you don’t have the right rhythm to “fly” on the mounds, here again the greater the momentum the less these obstacles reduce your speed. But, it is but one factor, you cannot decide on this alone. Like with natural surface ripple formation on desert tracks used by vehicles, there is an optimal speed range to efficiently pass over such surfaces, too fast or slow and your car gets shaken to pieces from the “harmonics” in the vibrations caused. Pretty sure the same applies to riding on cobbles.Mistermaumau04-04-2025
- I am saying I have an open mind at the moment for your cobbles theory but cannot agree with your wind statement (and by extrapolation sprinting since that implies speeds where wind is by far the limiting factor). Had you argued all things not being equal I could have agreed with you but if we thus assume 2 objets of the same size and speed but with differing weights, it is completely obvious that the lighter one will suffer faster in the wind. Extrapolate to the extreme, drop stuff off cliffs or just remember your momentum equations to verify. Now, obviously in real life we have to assume riders of different weights won’t have the same wind hitting surface but you cannot generalise at all then as you can have very unaerodynamic light riders and very aerodynamic heavy ones because it isn’t weight that defines CdA, Teslas have an incredible CdA and are ridiculously heavy, and someone like Harry Levreyssen is a Tesla in cycling.Mistermaumau04-04-2025
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- Not sure exactly what you are saying, but if you're implying that being heavier is helpful if you're going against the wind or sprinting, then no, it isn't. Ceteris paribus (all else held equal) being a lighter cyclist is always better, save downhill. The reason why heavier cyclists do relatively better than lighter ones on flatter courses is because they will have to have a higher power than the lighter cyclist in order to have any chance at all against them, and flatter courses mean that the lighter cyclist has nowhere to display the better power to weight ratio, meaning that significant ratio is power to CdA, which is usually an advantage to the heavier cyclist.acem8204-04-2025
- Going over bumps is equivalent to going over many small climbs. Lower weight is always a good thing (ceteris paribus) except when going downhill, and even then it's not that advantageous if the downhill is at all technical.acem8204-04-2025