She will attempt to cycle further than 48.405km, the world mark established by Great Britain’s Joscelin Lowden on the same velodrome in September 2021.
Last week, the time trial UCI World Champion was based near the Swiss town of Aigle where she put in solid daily training sessions on the UCI World Cycling Centre’s velodrome. We caught up with her 10 days before her attempt.
Despite her numerous UCI World titles on the track (Scratch in 2008) and the road (six across the individual and team time trial) the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot is particularly important to Ellen van Dijk.
“As a time trial specialist this is the ultimate thing you can achieve. It’s been a dream of mine for a long time and now it’s getting close and that’s very special. I value my world titles a lot, so I can’t say it’s above that. But breaking the record would mean a lot for me… it’s such a test of power, of mentality, character. There is so much to it. For me, because I love time trial so much, this would be the ultimate time trial victory.”
The track in Grenchen where Ellen van Dijk will attempt to break the record is 250m long, while a lap of the UCI World Cycling Centre’s track is just 200 metres.
“It’s a shorter track but I think it’s good for my technical skills,” explains Ellen van Dijk. “For me, it is difficult to hold the line on this (shorter) track, but in Grenchen it will be easier because the corners are wider.”
One athlete who had no problem dealing with the 200m track was Austrian Matthias Brändle, who established a new men’s UCI Hour Record (since broken) at the UCI World Cycling Centre in 2014.
“I watched some parts of his record and I think he rode a really good line. It’s great what he did here, and I hope I get some of his strength that I can carry on to Grenchen.”
However, the Dutch rider has not been locked exclusively into track sessions: “I usually do one session on the road and one session on the track every day. Basically, I’m a road cyclist so it’s nice to get out. One day we did a really nice loop just to get my mind off the track a little bit!”
It is ten years since the former track specialist switched to road, so she has also had to get used to the change of position, which is a lot more aero than in her track cycling days, and the relative boredom of riding in circles.
For this she counts on her team Trek-Segafredo, their sports psychologist, their nutritionist, their main sponsor Trek which built a bike specially for the occasion, her coach Josu Larrabazal and a team of specialists who “calculate every single thing you can calculate.”
“It looks quite easy to ride around for one hour, but there is such a lot of work going into it,” she said. “There are more than 15 people involved. You need a lot of people who put a lot of time and effort into this project.”
Although her specific preparation began relatively recently, Ellen van Dijk has gained physical and mental strength during her spring of racing Classics on the road, not least her 20km chase back to the bunch – and ultimately 7th place - in Paris-Roubaix after suffering a flat tyre.
“The whole spring, when something was happening or when I had to chase for a long time, I was thinking ‘it’s good training… good training for the hour’. I think these races help to build your strength and your stamina to be ready to fight for the hour.”
In Grenchen next Monday, Ellen van Dijk will not be chasing back to the peloton. She will be alone on the track, chasing Joscelin Lowden’s record. What will be going on in her mind?
“That’s a good question. It’s a big subject and I’m speaking about it with my psychologist and sports physiologist. We are trying to break it into pieces, but at the same time, it’s quite boring. There isn’t so much to think of, it’s just the line, and you and (maintaining) the same pace.
“This is still something that I need to find a good strategy for but, at the same time, I kind of hope that on the day itself, I'm so focused and I'm just so much into it that I don't need to have so much distraction.
“I haven’t ridden for one full hour on race pace yet. It’s something that I’m a little bit scared of. But at the same time that’s the big challenge. It’s something I actually want to face.
“That’s why you do it.”