Coming from Heist-op-den-Berg in Belgium, Ella is a fresh face to the team after completing a strong second year of racing as a junior where she has shown potential over a variety of parcours and races.
With cycling almost a religion in her native country, Ella actually got into the sport through her older brother, when at the age of ten she got her own road bike – thanks to his help, as he pestered her parents to get her a bike as she “was fast and needed one.”
Ella was riding on four hooves before she was on two wheels though, as horse riding was her first love and to this day her family still has two horses which she regularly helps to look after. She also admits while laughing that she tried dancing for one week when she was younger but quickly decided that it wasn’t the sport for her.
As a junior in 2023, Ella won the time trial at PK Antwerpen before going on to finish eighth overall at the notoriously tough Tour de Gévaudan Occitanie. She followed this up with second in the national championships road race, before another handful of top five results throughout the year, including an impressive second place at the junior version of GP Plouay. 2024 saw Ella further develop as she gained experience in the peloton. Another consistent set of races in spring resulted in wins at Ottergem and Boezinge, alongside a second place in the Belgian national time trial championships; highlighting her range of skills as a rider.
“It’s quite early and hard to say what type of rider I am now, but I like a harder day in the saddle and some climbs, but not the really big ones, so more the Ardennes kind of thing. I know the team is good at getting the most out of people, so I just want to get better in general and see where I am after that.”
