| Teamname: | 2007 Vrienden van het Platteland |
| Manager: | Jan van Dam |
| Onedaywins: | Road: 2 Track: 1 |
| Stageraceoverall: | 0 |
| Stageracestages: | 1 |
| Series: | UCI Team |
| Rank: | 23rd |
| Bestrider: | Ellen van Dijk (37th) |
| Kitimage: | Vrienden van het Platteland jersey 2007.jpg |
| Previous: | 2006 |
| Next: | 2008 |
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.
Ages as of 1 January 2007.Sources[1] [2]
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.[3] 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.[4] Due to her good results Ellen van Dijk became sportswomen of the year of Woerden.[5] Van Dijk was invited to join the Dutch national track cycling team.[6] 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.[7]
See also: 2007 in women's road cycling.
| Date | Discipline | Jersey | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 June | Norwegian National Time Trial Champion | Anita Valen | ||
| 15 August | Dutch national time trial champion | Ellen van Dijk | ||
| 30 December | Ellen van Dijk |
| Date | Race | Country | Best rider | Place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geelong World Cup | - | - | |||
| 2 | Tour of Flanders for Women | Ellen van Dijk | 40th | |||
| 3 | Ronde van Drenthe | Ellen van Dijk | 15th | |||
| 4 | La Flèche Wallonne Féminine | - | - | |||
| 5 | Tour de Berne | - | - | |||
| 6 | Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal | - | - | |||
| 7 | Open de Suède Vårgårda |  Anita Valen | 13th | |||
| 8 | GP de Plouay | - | - | |||
| 9 | Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt | Anita Valen | 15th |
| Date | Race | Rider | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 July | European Road Championships – Women's under-23 time trial | Ellen van Dijk | 5th | |
| 5 July | European Road Championships – Women's under-23 road race | Ellen van Dijk | 11th | |
| 23 September | Road World Championships – Women's time trial[9] | Ellen van Dijk | 17th |
See main article: 2007 UCI Women's Road World Rankings.
The team finished 23rd in the UCI ranking for teams.[10]
| Rider | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | 145 | ||
| 120 | 34 | ||
| 145 | Jaccolien Wallaard | 22 | |
| 356 | 3 |