Imagine your maternity leave ending with the Olympic Games months away. That’s going to be the reality for Trek-Segafredo's Ellen Van Dijk, the current World Champion in the time trial.
She and her partner Benjamin announced her pregnancy on Thursday, and she added that while she will be starting her maternity leave now, she intends to be on the start line at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
“Me and Benjamin are super excited to share the news that we are expecting our first child in September,” she said in a press release. “It has always been our wish to start a family and so to have this wish come true, still feels a bit unreal right now.”
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The Olympics are “unfinished business” for Van Dijk
She’s had a triumphant past year, taking the World Champion title and also becoming the UCI Hour Record holder last summer. But she’s not hanging up her cycling shoes, by any stretch: She was quick to note that she has no plans of retiring, saying that she still has ‘unfinished business’ at the Olympics.
“Together with the Team, and the unwavering support of Benjamin, I have achieved my biggest goals over the past two years,” she added. “When discussions around an extension of my contract began last year, we spoke about my seemingly conflicting ambitions: I want to win a medal at the Olympics in 2024, but I would also like to start a family. Straight away, the Team was open to both scenarios and that was incredibly heart-warming.”
Her team is 100 percent supportive
Thankfully, Trek-Segafredo was on board with all of her goals on and off the bike—truly, we’re finally seeing a shifting landscape in women’s sport where many athletes now are able to start families alongside their career paths, and with full support from their teams.
Trek-Segafredo in particular is no stranger to the dichotomy of wanting to start a family while also continuing to race: Lizzie Deignan was on a similar schedule in 2022 when she gave birth to her second child, and plans to return to racing this May.
“To have the full support from Trek is something special and they really are the game changers in women’s cycling,” Van Dijk added. “Having the option to get pregnant during your career should be a human right, but it wasn’t in our sport. However, thanks to Trek, other teams followed the example of supporting pregnancy and that eventually led to it also becoming a UCI rule.”
Teammates are her role models
Van Dijk credited Deignan with helping her see the path to having a career and a family: “Having Lizzie in the Team means a lot to me,” she says. “She is a role model and seeing her do what she does, is very inspiring. Lizzie and Phil have proved that it’s possible to have a family and make a successful comeback. I’m sure I will be asking her for advice now and then as well.”
Van Dijk is in good company when it comes to her Olympic goals as well. There have been other cyclists who’ve headed to the Olympics shortly after maternity leave. In 2021, cross-country mountain bike racer Catharine Pendrel was on the start line in Tokyo after giving birth at the end of January that same year. With Van Dijk due in September, she’ll have a bit more time to prepare, though as any new mom will likely tell you, it won’t feel like it!
Congrats to Van Dijk—we’ll miss seeing her on the start line at races this year, but we’re thrilled for her... and for her eventual return to the peloton.
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training, with an emphasis on women in sport. Her new middle-grade series, Shred Girls, debuts with Rodale Kids/Random House in 2019 with "Lindsay's Joyride." Her other books include "Mud, Snow and Cyclocross," "Saddle, Sore" and "Fuel Your Ride." Her work has been published in magazines like Bicycling, Outside and Nylon. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast.
