Van Dijk retires as one of cycling’s all-time greats
Next year, the peloton will miss one of its most familiar faces, as 38-year-old Ellen van Dijk has decided that 2025 will be her last racing season. Van Dijk has certainly left her mark on the sport with 70 victories to her name, including three world time trial titles, five European titles — one road race and four time trial — and a solo win at the Tour of Flanders.
With 41 victories against the clock, as well as being former hour record holder, van Dijk will go down in history as one of the time trialling greats. Her prowess in the race of truth not only earned her many individual successes, but also helped to propel her teammates to collective victories in team time trials, the most recent example being at the Vuelta España Femenina this year, where Lidl-Trek clinched victory by three seconds. Ellen’s contribution was recognised with the chance to don the race leader jersey.
Whilst van Dijk’s career will be remembered for its glorious highs, it has not been without its lows. Speaking about her decision to retire, van Dijk spoke frankly about the impact crashes and injuries have had on her over the years.
“I’m going to retire as a professional cyclist at the end of the season, after 20 years. It’s been a big part of my life, a super long career that I feel very thankful for. It’s been a very difficult decision for me, I really love the life of a professional cyclist, I really see it as a privilege. I love time trialling, it’s no secret. That’s my big passion and my big love. It still is and it will always be. I also love road cycling, but especially in the last two years I had a lot of nasty crashes and this for sure makes me more scared on the bike in the peloton, and it makes me lose the real love of the road racing. Because of the dangers of the sport I cannot enjoy the road cycling as much as I would like to any more. I feel that the peloton is not my place any more, and it’s time for a new generation.
I found it a very difficult decision because I love to have a goal every day, to be outside, to train and to feel good about it and especially to always try to improve. I was waiting for finally one moment where I knew it was enough, and it came. I had a good spring this year, so when that was going well I didn’t feel retirement calling, but I’ve had some nasty crashes in the past two years and after the spring this year I broke my shoulder and in my first race coming back from that, the Baloise Tour, I was involved in a hard crash in the middle of the peloton. At that moment, I realised that I don’t want this anymore. We started the next day in the rain, and I thought ‘no’, this is not where I feel at home anymore. For me that was the moment where I knew I was done with racing in the peloton.”
In 2023, van Dijk paused her career to welcome her son, Faas, to the world. Within six months, she was not only pinning a number on her back, but incredibly, winning again.
“I’m very proud of my whole career. Of course, of the wins, but I’m also proud of the last two years where as a family we really had to be a team to get the best out of me, and I’m proud of how my partner Benjamin managed that with Faas. It’s been super special to experience these past two years as a family and all the memories I have from that are super special and I will treasure them for sure.
“Cycling means a lot to me and gave me a lot of great chances in life, and very thankful for everything that cycling gave to me. I’m especially thankful to Lidl-Trek. This is my seventh year with the team, the longest time I’ve been with one team, and that’s not for no reason. I really feel at home with this team, and it means a lot to me what this team did for women’s cycling. Trek always believed in women’s cycling and invested a lot in it and has played a big role in making women’s cycling what it is today.
“I don’t know if I look forward to my retirement. I don’t know yet what I’m going to do, but in general I feel very thankful for everything in my career and I would like to make that message very clear.”
