'The peloton is not my place any more' - Ellen van Dijk retires due to fear of crashes and further injury

Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) has announced she will retire at the end of 2025, bringing down the curtain on a 20-year career that included 70 victories, three world time trial titles, five European titles and a solo win at the Tour of Flanders.

Van Dijk's retirement marks a turning point for the LIdl-Trek women's team, with Lizzie Deignan also recently announcing her retirement.

Van Dijk admitted that the fears of racing in the modern peloton and the crashes and injuries she has suffered over the years played a part in her decision to retire.

"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," she explained.

"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.”

38-year-old Van Dijk won 41 time trials and is a former Hour Record holder. Her time trialling talents also helped her teammates to collective victories in team time trials, the most recent at the Vuelta España Femenina this spring. Lidl-Trek won the team time trial by three seconds, and Van Dijk pulled on the race leader's red jersey.

In 2023, Van Dijk took time out from her racing career to give birth to her son, Faas. Within six months, she was back racing and winning.

“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," she said.

"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.”

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