Ellen van Dijk will attempt to break the UCI Hour Record on May 23, 2022 at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland, aiming to surpass the current record of 48.405 km set by Britain's Jocelyn Roden on the same course last fall.

The Trek-Segafredo rider is the current time trial world champion and has been contemplating a women's hour record attempt for several years. Van Dijk has plenty of experience on the track, winning the scratch world championship in 2008, her first time trial world title in 2013, the Tour of Flanders in 2014, and four-time team time trial world champion.

"This has been a dream of mine for a long time. I've always said I wanted to set an hour record one day, and now the day has finally arrived," van Dijk said. [It's a mixture of excitement and nervousness, which is normal. You're always on the edge and it's a big challenge, and this is a big challenge, so it's going to be exciting and scary at the same time."

"Jos also set a record in Glen Henn. If he had tried it in Mexico, where the altitude is higher, he could have gone even faster, but it would have required a completely different kind of preparation."

The 35-year-old van Dijk promised to challenge the hour record after winning the time trial world title in Belgium last September.

"I had talked about the Hour Record since I moved to Trek-Segafredo four years ago, but I didn't think now was the time. I wasn't over my injury yet, and I knew I wasn't in the best shape. But now I'm ready to challenge the current benchmarks," she said.

Van Dijk will continue racing on the road in the spring and then focus on special training for the Hour Record. Trek is developing a track version of its Speed Concept time trial bike, and Santini will make a special skin suit for Van Dijk.

"We are still preparing everything for the big race and of course we want to continue to race well through the few remaining spring classics races. Of course I want to keep racing well through the few remaining spring classics.

"What I'm already doing is time trial bike training. I went to the wind tunnel on Monday and did some track testing, but the bulk of that will still be done in the next few weeks."

Van Dyk has not yet set a specific target distance for the Hour Record Challenge. That will come closer to the May date when she will finalize her equipment, power output, and riding strategy.

"I haven't tested a full set yet, so I don't know exactly how much watts I'll need.

"We haven't decided on a distance. Of course, I respect the record that Jos [Roden] set. She did a really great job and set a high standard to reach, 48.4 km.