The 2007 women's road cycling season was the eighth season for the Vrienden van het Platteland (UCI code: VVP) cycling team, which began as Ondernemers van Nature in 2000.
The main victories on the road for the team were the time trial at the Tour of Chongming Island by Ellen van Dijk and the Norwegian and Dutch Time Trial Championships by Anita Valen and Ellen van Dijk. On the track Van Dijk also won the individual pursuit at the Dutch National Track Cycling Championships. At the end of the year the team ended 23rd in the UCI Team's Ranking with Ellen van Dijk as the best individual at the 37th place in the UCI Individual Women's Road Ranking.
Roster
Ages as of 1 January 2007.
Sources
Riders who joined the team for the 2007 season Rider2006 team
Riders who left the team during or after the 2006 season Rider2007 team
Season The first podium place for the team was a third place for Jaccolien Wallaard at Omloop Het Volk in March. In May Ellen van Dijk finished third at Omloop van Borsele and in the time trial stage at the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin. Van Dijk finished third again in an international time trial at the Tour of Chongming Island Time trial in June. The day afterwards Van Dijk won the first stage of the Tour of Chongming Island with Wallaard in third place. After finishing second in the stage 2 and stage 3 Van Dijk ended also second in the general classification. In July Ellen van Dijk represented the Netherlands at the European Championships (under-23) and finished fifth in the time trial. At the national championships Anita Valen won the time trial in Norway and finished second in the road race. In the Netherlands Ellen van Dijk won the Dutch time trial championships. Due to Van Dijks' good results in the time trials she was chosen to represent the Netherlands in the time trial at the World Championships in Stuttgart where she finished 17th. Due to her good results Ellen van Dijk became sportswomen of the year of Woerden. Van Dijk was invited to join the Dutch national track cycling team. At the national track championships she became Dutch champion in the individual pursuit, ahead of Marianne Vos and Kirsten Wild, and finished fourth in the scratch race and points race.
Results
Season victories
+Single day and stage races 2007 Date Nation Race Cat. Winner3 June Stage 1 Tour of Chongming Island 2.2 Ellen van Dijk
+National, Continental and World champions 2007 Date Discipline Jersey Winner29 JuneNorwegian National Time Trial Champion Anita Valen15 AugustDutch national time trial champion Ellen van Dijk 30 December Dutch National Track Cycling Champion – Individual pursuit Ellen van Dijk
Results in major races +Results at the 2007 UCI Women's Road World Cup races#DateRaceCountryBest riderPlace1Geelong World Cup - -2Tour of Flanders for Women Ellen van Dijk 40th3Ronde van Drenthe Ellen van Dijk 15th4La Flèche Wallonne Féminine - -5Tour de Berne - -6Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal - -7Open de Suède Vårgårda Anita Valen 13th8GP de Plouay - -9Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt Anita Valen 15th
+Results in other major single day racesDateRaceRiderPlace 3 JulyEuropean Road Championships – Women's under-23 time trial Ellen van Dijk 5th 5 JulyEuropean Road Championships – Women's under-23 road race Ellen van Dijk 11th23 SeptemberRoad World Championships – Women's time trial Ellen van Dijk 17th
UCI World Ranking
The team finished 23rd in the UCI ranking for teams.
+ Individual UCI World Ranking Rank Rider Points37 Ellen van Dijk 145120 Anita Valen 34145 Jaccolien Wallaard 22356 Monique van de Ree 3
References