Ellen van Dijk will make her return to racing at the Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, held from March 8-10 in Spain. The Lidl-Trek rider hasn’t raced in 18 months, having taken time away from the sport to give birth to her first child, and said that while much as changed in her life outside of cycling, she is excited to return to the peloton.
"I am very excited to finally rejoin the team and be back racing after around 18 months without it. I have been training for most of that time but a lot has happened in between and so much has also changed in my life outside cycling. While I am really happy to finally go back to racing, I am also, of course, curious as to where I stand at the moment," Van Dijk said.
"Even though training has gone well and everything is going according to plan, returning to racing after any amount of time off is always a bit of an unknown and I will always be a little nervous to go back into the peloton and have this feeling again.”
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Vuelta Extremadura Féminas is a three-day race that offers a 17.2km time trial on the final day in Zafra. Van Dijk, a former three-time world champion in the discipline, has already stated her goals for the time trial event at the Paris Olympics and hasn't ruled out attempting another Hour Record.
“We picked this race as my first race back because it has a nice time trial in it, so that’s my main goal of these three days. I really want to get back into TT mode and see where my level is at this moment," Van Dijk said in a team press release.
"We have trained a lot for it already and I am excited to ride a time trial again, especially in my first race back. It’s the discipline I love the most, so I am really happy that I can get back to it straight away.
"After that, it’s all about easing into it again, getting back into the peloton, getting that race feeling back and being a part of the team. This is a smaller race than the Spring Classics, so I am really happy that I can start here and build towards the bigger races.
"However, at the same time, it also comes with a bit of a heavy heart because I will be leaving home again. I have been together with my partner Benjamin, and Faas, who was born five months ago. This will be the first time I really have to leave them alone and being apart will mentally be a challenge."
After competing at the Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, Van Dijk will turn her attention to the Spring Classics.
Van Dijk hasn’t raced since the Chrono des Nations in October 2022 but said she has spent time training during her time away from racing. She has also completed tests while training on the track and has previewed the road race and time trial courses for the Paris Olympics.
Asked by her Lidl-Trek team to reflect on what she has taken away from her experience of becoming a mother, Van Dijk said, "For sure, the pain which I experienced when I was giving birth was something that I have never ever felt before or could have ever described beforehand. So, when I am suffering on the bike I can always think back to that and remember that it could be 10 times, or more, worse. That’s, for sure, something I will take with me. I think I have also learned that you can function with a lot less sleep than I could have imagined before so, if I ever have bad night’s sleep, I won’t worry again.
"When I was pregnant, we made an ideal plan, which, in fact, was to come back for this race. We thought this was the earliest I could come back to racing and that was also factoring in that I wanted to breastfeed. We knew that there could be setbacks and anything could happen, but so far, very fortunately, everything has gone according to plan so, it’s now time to go back to racing."
Van Dijk also said she feels prepared to begin racing again and looks forward to pinning a bib number on and joining her Lidl-Trek teammates on the start line.
"I do feel really ready. I have trained a lot and once you start to get sick of training, you know it’s time to start racing again, so bring it on.”
