Van Dijk to undergo surgery after fracturing arm and pelvis in Boels Ladies Tour crash

Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) sustained a broken humerus and pelvis after a crash at the Boels Ladies Tour at the weekend. The Dutch time trial specialist will undergo surgery to correct the humerus fracture and will require six weeks to recover from both injuries, sidelining her from the Yorkshire World Championships.

"Not so lucky in my second crash of the week. Will stay in hospital for a couple of days where they will do surgery later this week on my humerus. Six weeks no walking because of fractures in pelvis (front and rear)," Van Dijk wrote in a post on Twitter after her accident.

Van Dijk had an unfortunate start to the Boels Ladies Tour, crashing in the prologue on Tuesday. She was a favourite to win the race but veered off road during the time trial and landed in a grassy ditch.

She did not sustain significant injuries from the first crash and continued to compete for her Trek-Segafredo teammates during the next three stages. A second crash happened on stage 4’s 135km race between Arnhem an Nijmegen on Saturday. Five riders hit the ground in a large crash at the 86km mark, but it is unclear if this was the crash that Van Dijk was involved in.

Van Dijk was forced to abandon the stage and she confirmed several fractures to her humerus and pelvis.

Although the Dutch federation has not yet announced the elite women’s team competing at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire at the end of September, Van Dijk would likely have played a key role in the time trial and the road race.