Vrienden van het Platteland

2006 One of the main new recruits for the team was former junior rider Ellen van Dijk. In March Ellen van Dijk became University World Champion at the 2006 World University Cycling Championship in the women's road race. and finished second in the women's time trial. The other main victories for the team were Flèche Hesbignonne by Chantal Beltman and stage 2 of the Tour Féminin en Limousin by Ellen van Dijk. At the national championships Sharon van Essen finished second in the road race and Iris Slappendel won the bronze medal in the women's time trial. At the end of the year the team ended 12th in the UCI Team's Ranking with Chantal Beltman as the best individual at the 30th place in the UCI Individual Women's Road Ranking. Van Dijk was also active on the track and won the bronze medal at the 2006 Dutch National Track Championships in the women's individual pursuit. 2007 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. 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. 2008 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 ==