It has been a busy season for Ellen van Dijk. The Dutch rider began 2022 on a high, with the rainbow jersey of World Champion on her shoulders, having taken the individual time-trial world title just a few months earlier in the Flanders region of Belgium. It was the second time Van Dijk had won the Time-Trial World Championships, the first being in 2013 in Italy.
‘That race in Belgium was super-special after eight years of chasing it again,’ she tells Cyclist as the season draws to a close. ‘Everything fell into place, and I had this magical two weeks with the European Championships before. I was really in the clouds. That was the best week of my career.’
Early in 2022, Van Dijk took a win at the Bloeizone Fryslân Tour, a three-day stage race in the Netherlands, and came in seventh at Paris-Roubaix, but mostly her mind was focussed on something outside of the packed race season: the Hour record.
‘It gave me a lot of energy for sure, but it’s a different structure to your season. I did all the spring Classics and had just three days off. Normally you have some time to relax and build up towards the next thing.’
After smashing the Hour record in May (more on that later), Van Dijk continued on to the UK for the Women’s Tour in June, and home to the Netherlands for the Nationals before preparing for the first Tour de
