"This is nothing compared to childbirth" - indestructible Ellen van Dijk comes 6th at Paris-Roubaix Femmes

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."

"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."