AFP
NOS Cycling•
“For real?!” Hanging over her handlebars, Ellen van Dijk could not believe that she had once again become world time trial champion. She was a contender, outgoing champion, but not a top favourite. Secretly she had already said goodbye to the rainbow jersey the day before.
“I thought yesterday: I’ve had a really great year in that jersey, enjoyed it a lot, and whatever happens, I’m going to give it my all. If it’s not a podium finish, so be it“, said Van Dijk after the ceremony, a brand new rainbow jersey around the shoulders, the gold medal shining around the neck.
Without expectations, she got on Sunday in Wollongong, Australia. “I think that made a big difference, that I was very relaxed about it.” Free in the head.
Switched back to EK
Van Dijk did not know that she had won: ‘I thought: what are they saying?’
The course in Wollongong did not suit her so well. And since the European Championships in Munich, where the Swiss Marlen Reusser was five seconds faster, she had not raced. Not consciously. “I didn’t feel well there, I had to take a step back for a moment and focus on this mentally.” But that didn’t come naturally.
On Thursday, Van Dijk had to stop her training because she was suffering too much from her back. Bad for morale, so close to a World Cup. “I was a bit in sackcloth. But nobody takes that seriously anymore, now that things are going so well,” she laughed.
Along the way, Van Dijk never wants to hear times, so not this race either. She wants to ride by feel. “I knew what wattages I had to ride where, but in the end it’s a course that you have to do by feel.”
Van Dijk rushes to third title at World Time Trial Championship in a superior way
Passing through after the first lap, she heard the speaker say she was still on track for a medal. But winning? She never thought about that. “I had no illusions that I would come close to Grace Brown.”
When she faded the speaker after the finish”back-to-back win” heard the call, Van Dijk started to suspect something. It only became clear when she saw the caretakers go crazy. “Until I crossed the finish line I really had no idea.”
‘Very, very special’
“This is really a surprise to me now”, she beamed afterwards. “It feels very, very special. That I think: wow, I’m really the best now.” Better than Brown (+0.12). Better than Reusser (+0.41). And better than compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten, who finished seventh at one minute and 43 seconds from Van Dijk’s winning time 44.29.
“It didn’t even feel that bad, but when I look at my wattages now, I can conclude: bad day,” said the winner of this year’s Tour, Giro and Vuelta. Van Vleuten was eager in advance, but: “It is clear that I did not achieve what I can normally do, so I can accept it more.”
In the shadow of Van Dijk’s gold, a first took place in Wollongong: the promises competed for a world title among the elite riders. The Dutch Shirin van Anrooij (47.09) took the silver there, behind the Italian Vittoria Guazzini (45.20).
NOS
