Ellen van Dijk has announced her retirement from professional cycling following a 20-year career in the sport.

Alongside her three world time trial titles and five European titles – one road race and four time trials – she also claimed a solo win at the Tour of Flanders.

In a statement, she said: “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.”

Van Dijk took time out from the sport in 2023 to give birth to her son, Faas.

She was back on the saddle within six months and spoke about the influence of her family during the latter stages of her glittering career.

“Cycling means a lot to me and gave me a lot of great chances in life, and [I’m] 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.”

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