Former three-time world time trial champion and hour record holder Ellen van Dijk will continue her career with Lidl Trek for at least one more year.

The 37-year-old has extended her contract until the end of 2025, the team announced in a press release.

Van Dijk has already won 68 professional races, including the 2014 Tour of Flanders, the 2021 European Championships road race, and more than 40 individual time trials, and both the Vuelta a Estremadura and Tour de Normandie this spring. With her TT wins, her total against the clock has grown again this year.

She also recently finished second in the time trial at the European Championships, which she won four times from 2015 to 2019, and eighth in the same event at the Road World Championships, which she won in 2013, 2021, and 2022.

A super-versatile athlete who finished sixth in Paris-Roubaix this year, the team's press release stated, “Since giving birth to her son Firth a year ago, she has worked tirelessly to return, refusing to let even a broken ankle delay her goal of competing in the Paris Olympics. Her resilience and drive are as strong as ever.”

Speaking to Cycling News this summer, van Dijk said that when she broke her ankle in June, “I thought it was over,” but she stood firm to compete in both Paris and the Tour de France Femme. She explained in the same interview, “Walking is harder than cycling, but it's not about walking.”

Van Dijk, who has been a part of the Lidl Trek team since it started in 2019, said she has received great support from the team during her pregnancy and injury and that “this team really feels like my home, it's where I belong.”

“I put a lot of energy into coming back (this season) and I thought it would be a shame to only use that (energy) for one year.

“I still want to keep going, I'm motivated, and I feel I have more to give to Lidl Trek.”

“Ellen is not only a phenomenal athlete, but also an irreplaceable person on the team. She passes on incredible knowledge to our young athletes and teaches them what it takes to compete at the highest level,” commented Ina-Joko Teutenberg, sports director of Lidl Trek, in the same press release.

. 'Her joining us for another year will be a huge boost.'