Ellen van Dijk

Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌeːleːoːˈnoːraː maːˈriaː ˈɛllən vɑn dɛik]; born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist riding for Boels Dolmans Cycling Team. Besides road cycling she was also a track cyclist until 2012. Van Dijk is known as a time trial specialist and is four times world champion. She won her first world title on the track in the scratch race in 2008. She became Road World Champion in 2012 and 2013 in the team time trial and in 2013 also in the individual time trial. In 2015 she won the time trial at the first European Games and the silver medal in the team time trial at the world championships.

Van Dijk started as a speed skater and as part of her skating training she undertook cycling as part of cross-training in summer. She excelled at both, competing nationally at junior level. After becoming a national cycling champion for the fifth time in 2007, she quit speed skating and became a full-time cyclist. Along with her world title successes, Van Dijk has also twice been European track champion, twice European time trial champion and has won six World Cup races. In 2012 she competed in three disciplines at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where she helped Marianne Vos win the gold medal in the road race, finished eighth in the time trial and sixth in the team pursuit.