‘The peloton is no longer my place’ – time trial specialist Ellen van Dijk announces retirement

Time trial powerhouse Ellen van Dijk has announced that the 2025 season will be her last, closing the chapter on a decorated cycling career that spanned two decades. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman, currently riding for Lidl-Trek, shared the news during a guest appearance on the Dutch sports programme De Avondetappe.

“I still very much enjoy it. And I think time trialing is the most beautiful thing there is, but cycling isn’t just about time trialing,” Van Dijk said. “Riding in the peloton, I just no longer enjoy that. I feel that it’s no longer my place. I have teammates who are literally half my age. There’s a new generation of riders now.”

With age also comes a longer recovery time when one gets hurt, and Van Dijk has had more than her share of injuries, including a shoulder fracture, concussion and ankle fractures in the last calendar year alone.

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“I’ve had a couple really hard crashes now and I don’t want that anymore. I’m so over that,” she said. “When I look at the big picture, I think my time has come. I want to stop at a moment where I still feel that I’m truly competing. Not at a moment where I think I no longer belong.”

Indeed, Van Dijk is still very much a contender. Just this month, she finished second overall at the Baloise Ladies Tour. Earlier in the year, she won the general classification at the Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, placed second at the Amstel Gold Race, and took eighth at the Tour of Flanders, a race she won back in 2014.

Over her long career, Van Dijk became a true expert in the race against the clock, and one of the most decorated ones at that. She’s a three-time UCI world time trial champion and a four-time European champion in the same discipline. She also earned four world titles in the team time trial. Additionally, she has a track world title (2008, scratch race) and a European road race title (2021).

In 2022, she undertook the UCI World Hour Record, and cemented herself as the fastest woman of her generation when she set a new record of covering 49.254 kilometers in 60 minutes. That distance stood as the world’s best until Italy’s Vittoria Bussi broke it, twice, most recently extending the record to 50.45 kilometers in May 2025. But Van Dijk’s mark remains the third-best distance ever recorded.

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Van Dijk, left, with her son Faas

(Image credit: Getty Images)

On the road, Van Dijk has long been one of the peloton’s most respected and dependable riders. She celebrated for her selfless domestique work, but also very dangerous in a breakaway. Over the years, she’s amassed an impressive palmares, including victories at Tour of Flanders (2014), the Vuelta España Femenina (2018), Dwars Door Vlaanderen (twice: 2018 and 2019), Omloop van het Hageland (2018), Le Samyn (2013), as well as the GC at Boels Ladies Tour (2013), Ladies Tour of Qatar (2011) and Baloise Ladies Tour (2022).

In 2023, Van Dijk took a deliberate step away from the sport to start a family. She gave birth to her son, Faas, in October and made a quick return to racing in March 2024 with the goal of competing at the Paris Olympics. Sadly, she fractured her ankle just weeks before the Games. She still competed but left empty handed.

Van Dijk will retire on her own terms, leaving behind a legacy as the best time trial specialist of her generation.

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Ellen van Dijk