2008 Vrienden van het Platteland season


The 2008 women's road cycling season was the ninth and last season for the Vrienden van het Platteland cycling team, which began as Ondernemers van Nature in 2000.
Ellen van Dijk became European Champion in the time trial and won the stage 2 of the 2008 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin and the prologue of 2008 Tour Féminin en Limousin. An Van Rie won the Belgian Time Trial Championships. However, the largest victories were on the track. Ellen van Dijk became World Champion in the scratch and European champion in the Women's points race and Women's scratch. At the European championships she also won two silver medals. Willy Kanis won 4 times an individual event at the Track Cycling World Cups in 2008 and together with Yvonne Hijgenaar two times the team sprint event.
The team finished 19th in the 2008 UCI Team Ranking.

Roster

Ages as of 1 January 2008.
Sources
;Guest riders
The team had Felicia Gomez and Linn Torp as guest riders during the Tour of New Zealand and Gomez also during the Geelong Tour.
Rider2007 team

Rider2008 team

Season

January–March: track cycling

At the begin of the year Willy Kanis, Yvonne Hijgenaar and Ellen van Dijk were active on the track. At the 3rd round of the 2007–08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Los Angeles Kanis and Hijgenaar won the team sprint. At the 4th round in Copenhagen in February Kanis won the sprint and Keirin. Ellen van Dijk and Yvonne Hijgenaar finished in the team pursuit together with Marlijn Binnendijk second in a new Dutch national record.
Ellen van Dijk was chosen to ride the individual pursuit in the remaining two 2007–2008 track cycling World Cups due to her good results at the 2007 Dutch National Track Championships. Van Dijk could, via the UCI World Ranking system, potentially earn qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games. She finished in Los Angeles and Copenhagen in fifth and fourth places respectively. After finishing fifth in the individual pursuit at the World Track Championships in Manchester, Van Dijk missed out on qualification for the Olympic games; she finished 12th in the UCI World Rankings and only the first eleven riders qualified. The day after she took revenge by winning her first major senior title, the scratch race at the 2008 World Cycling Championships. With eight laps to go she attacked and rode solo to the finish line. Van Dijk finished at the World Championships in the team pursuit furthermore 6th in a new Dutch national record. At the World Championships Kanis did not win a medal and finished 4th and 5th in the women's 500 m time trial and Women's sprint, Hijgenaar finished in these disciplines 10th and 8th.

April–June: road cycling

At the end of April Annemiek van Vleuten finished second in the GP Stad Roeselare. Martine Bras and Ellen van Dijk were part of the national team at the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin where they won team time trial stage 2. Furthermore, Ellen van Dijk finished second in the prologue and Bras finished third in stage 7. At the same time the team rode at the Tour de Pologne Feminin where Liesbet De Vocht finished third in the general classification. An Van Rie finished third in the first stage. At the Rabo Ster Zeeuwsche Eilanden in mid June, Ellen van Dijk finished second in the time trial of stage 1. In the later stages Van Dijk and the team fought for her place in the general classification. She won the youth classification and finished third overall.

July–September: road and track cycling championships

As the Dutch national time trial champion and due to her good results in the time trials, Ellen van Dijk was selected to participate at the 2008 European Road Championships. Van Dijk became 2008 European Time Trial Champion and finished 31st in the road race. Ellen van Dijk showed again her strong time trial skills in the Tour Féminin en Limousin where she won the initial time trial stage over 4.6 km. Annemiek van Vleuten finished third, 10 seconds behind her. Van Dijk was not selected to ride the time trial at the Summer Olympics, because the course would be too heavy for her. At the National championships, An Van Rie won the Belgian National Time Trial Championships. Ellen van Dijk could not defend successfully her Dutch national time trial title and finished fourth. Annemiek van Vleuten seventh.
Willy Kanis and Yvonne Hijgenaar participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics on the track in the women's sprint. Kanis lost the bronze medal match and ended in 4th place. Hijgenaar became 11th. As the scratch world champion Ellen van Dijk also became European Track Champion in the scratch as well as in the points race in September. Van Dijk rode to the silver medal in the elite omnium and the individual pursuit events.
Several riders from the team were selected by their national federation to participate at the 2008 UCI Road World Championships to represent the country. Ellen van Dijk and An Van Rie participated in the time trial. Nikki Egyed and Liesbet De Vocht in the road race

November–December: track cycling

At the end of November Willy Kanis won on the track at the second round of the 2008–09 Track Cycling World Cup in Melbourne the 500m time trial and sprint and together with Yvonne Hijgenaar also the team sprint. At the 2008 Dutch National Track Championships at the end of December Kanis became three times national champion in the sprint disciplines, the 500m time trial, keirin and sprint. Also Ellen van Dijk defended her title successfully in the individual pursuit.

Results

Season victories

DateNationRaceCat.Winner
18-20 JanuaryTeam sprint: 2007–08 Track Cycling World Cup - Round 3 CDM Yvonne Hijgenaar
Willy Kanis
15-17 FebruarySprint: 2007–08 Track Cycling World Cup - Round 4 CDM Willy Kanis
15-17 FebruaryKeirin: 2007–08 Track Cycling World Cup - Round 4 CDM Willy Kanis
18 MayStage 2 2008 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin2.1 Ellen van Dijk
24 JulyPrologue 2008 Tour Féminin en Limousin2.2 Ellen van Dijk
20-22 NovemberTeam sprint: 2007–08 Track Cycling World Cup - Round 2 CDM Yvonne Hijgenaar
Willy Kanis
20-22 November500m time trial: 2007–08 Track Cycling World Cup - Round 2 CDM Willy Kanis
20-22 NovemberKeirin: 2007–08 Track Cycling World Cup - Round 2 CDM Willy Kanis

DateDisciplineJerseyWinner
30 MarchTrack Cycling World Champion - Scratch Ellen van Dijk
3 JulyEuropean Road Champion - Time Trial Ellen van Dijk
15 AugustBelgian National Time Trial ChampionAn Van Rie
6 SeptemberEuropean Track Champion - Under-23 points race Ellen van Dijk
7 SeptemberEuropean Track Champion - Under-23 scratch Ellen van Dijk
30 DecemberDutch National Track Cycling Champion – Individual pursuitEllen van Dijk
30 DecemberDutch National Track Cycling Champion – 500m time trialWilly Kanis
30 DecemberDutch National Track Cycling Champion – SprintWilly Kanis
30 DecemberDutch National Track Cycling Champion – KeirinWilly Kanis

Results in major races

Women's World Cup 2008

#DateRaceCountryBest riderPlace
#1Geelong World Cup Tina Pic19th
#2Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio Lorian Graham9th
#3Tour of Flanders for Women Martine Bras20th
#4Ronde van Drenthe Liesbet De Vocht7th
#5La Flèche Wallonne Féminine Lorian Graham24th
#6Tour de Berne Nikki Butterfield7th
#7Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal--
#8Open de Suède Vårgårda Martine Bras10th
#9Open de Suède Vårgårda TTTVrienden van het Platteland5th
#10GP de Plouay-Bretagne Martine Bras5th
#11Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt Liesbeth Bakker14th

DateRaceRiderPlace
26 MarchTrack Cycling World Championships – Women's 500 m time trial Willy Kanis4th
28 MarchTrack Cycling World Championships – Women's team pursuit Ellen van Dijk
6th
29 MarchTrack Cycling World Championships – Women's sprint Willy Kanis5th
29 MarchTrack Cycling World Championships – Women's keirin Willy Kanis9th
30 MarchTrack Cycling World Championships – Women's scratch Ellen van Dijk
3 JulyEuropean Road Championships – Women's under-23 time trial Ellen van Dijk
5 JulyEuropean Road Championships – Women's under-23 road race Ellen van Dijk31st
3 SeptemberEuropean Track Championships – Women's omnium Ellen van Dijk
6 SeptemberEuropean Track Championships – Women's under-23 individual pursuit Ellen van Dijk
7 SeptemberEuropean Track Championships – Women's under-23 scratch Ellen van Dijk
6 SeptemberEuropean Track Championships – Women's under-23 points race Ellen van Dijk
23 SeptemberRoad World Championships – Women's time trial Ellen van Dijk20th
24 SeptemberRoad World Championships – Women's road race15th

Other achievements

Dutch national records, team pursuit

The women's 3000 m team pursuit track cycling discipline was introduced at the 2007–08 track cycling season. The Dutch team including Ellen van Dijk and Yvonne Hijgenaar rode the team pursuit for the first time at Round 4 at the 2007–08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Copenhagen in a time of 3:36.901. They broke the record later that day. At the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships the Dutch team including Van Dijk broke the record again in the qualifying round. This is not the current record anymore.
TimeSpeed
CyclistsEventLocation of raceDateRef
3:36.90149.792Ellen van Dijk and Yvonne Hijgenaar
2007–08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics – Round 4 Copenhagen17 February 2008
3:32.66650.783Ellen van Dijk and Yvonne Hijgenaar
2007–08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics – Round 4 Copenhagen17 February 2008
3:31.59651.040Ellen van Dijk
2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships Manchester28 March 2008

UCI World Ranking

The team finished 19th in the UCI ranking for teams.
RankRiderPoints
73 Liesbet De Vocht77.25
78 Martine Bras75
79 Ellen van Dijk74.91
88 Annemiek van Vleuten64.25
107 Nikki Egyed48
120 An Van Rie39.25
154 Lorian Graham24
161 Tina Pic23
216 Marit Huisman11.25
225 Liesbeth Bakker10.25
262 Jaccolien Wallaard8