Ellen van Dijk, one of the most dominant time trial specialists in modern cycling, announced Wednesday that she will retire at the end of the 2025 season.
The 38-year-old Dutchwoman on Lidl-Trek — who boasts 70 professional wins of which 41 came against the clock — said the increasing dangers in the peloton pushed her to call time on her long career.
“It’s been a very difficult decision for me,” Van Dijk said Wednesday. “I really love the life of a professional cyclist, I really see it as a privilege.
“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.”
A three-time world time trial champion and a winner of the Tour of Flanders, Van Dijk is one of the toughest and most experienced riders in the bunch, but cited what she said was increasing danger in the bunch.
“Because of the dangers of the sport I cannot enjoy the road cycling as much as I would like to anymore,” she said. “I feel that the peloton is not my place anymore, and it’s time for a new generation.”
Dominating time trials, shining on the road
Van Dijk is one of the peloton’s most accomplished time trialists, with three world titles, four European crowns, and 41 pro wins against the clock, as well as a former hour record holder.
She took a break after the 2022 season to give birth to a child, and returned in 2024 to target the Olympic Games in Paris.
Crashes and injuries, however, started to impact her performances and her enthusiasm for road racing.
Van Dijk was posting a solid 2025 campaign, with a GC win and second at Amstel Gold Race in the spring, but described a crash at the Tour of Baloise this month when she made up her mind for good.
Ellen van Dijk will retire from professional cycling at the end of the season, the three-time world champion has announced on Dutch television pic.twitter.com/oh6FVCnRSh
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) July 29, 2025
“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,” she said. “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 realized 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.”
She joins Lidl-Trek teammate Lizzie Deignan and compatriot Chantal van den Broek-Blaak as some of the biggest names in the women’s peloton retiring this season.