Ilse Pluimers will take an indefinite break from racing after continuing to experience problems with her hip.
The 24-year-old Dutch rider confirmed the change through an Instagram update, explaining that she had spent the past several months training and competing through pain before accepting that she could no longer continue pushing through the problem.
“A little change of plans,” Pluimers wrote. “I won’t be racing for a while due to ongoing hip issues. I’ve been racing and training through pain for the past couple of months, but it’s time to stop pushing through it.”
Pluimers said her immediate priority would be patience and a complete focus on rehabilitation. She remains hopeful that her medical team has now identified a treatment capable of addressing the pain and eventually allowing her to return to normal training.
“Hopefully we’ve found the right treatment to get rid of the pain, so I can get back to riding pain-free and feeling like myself again,” she added.
No date has been set for her return to competition. Pluimers thanked AG Insurance-Soudal and the people around her for their support during what has become a difficult and uncertain period.
Hip problem interrupts an encouraging season
The enforced break comes after Pluimers produced several promising performances during the opening months of 2026.
She finished fourth at GP Oetingen and Festival Elsy Jacobs à Garnich, while also showing strongly at the Antwerp Port Epic. The rough roads and repeated changes of rhythm in Antwerp suited her qualities as a durable rider capable of surviving an attritional race, a role highlighted in our Antwerp Port Epic Ladies 2026 contenders preview.
Her aggressive instincts were particularly visible at Nokere Koerse. Pluimers attacked alone during the closing kilometres and briefly threatened to disrupt the expected sprint before the peloton brought her back.
The move did not produce the victory, but it showed why she has become an increasingly valuable option for AG Insurance-Soudal. Our report from Nokere Koerse Women 2026 covered how Pluimers used the hesitation between the sprint teams to create a genuine late opening.
Those results continued her development into a reliable Classics rider capable of sprinting from reduced groups or creating opportunities through attacks. Her combination of power, positioning and endurance has made her useful across cobbled, gravel and rolling one-day races.
The setback is therefore poorly timed. Pluimers appeared to be finding a stronger level of consistency, but continuing to train and race through persistent pain risked turning a manageable problem into a longer-term injury.
Pluimers puts recovery ahead of an early return
Pluimers did not reveal a detailed diagnosis or provide a provisional comeback date.
That is significant because the latest announcement is not framed as a brief withdrawal from one race. She has made clear that she needs to stop racing altogether and give the treatment time to work.
Professional riders often continue competing while managing discomfort, particularly during important sections of the calendar. There is nevertheless a point at which compensation, altered movement and repeated loading can begin causing additional problems.
Pluimers’ decision suggests that point has now been reached. The priority is no longer maintaining race fitness or preserving her programme, but reaching a stage where she can ride without pain again.
Her phrase about feeling like herself is also important. Persistent injury does not only affect performance. It can change how a rider sits on the bike, how confidently she accelerates and whether training remains mentally sustainable.
AG Insurance-Soudal will now need to allow the recovery process to determine the timetable rather than working backwards from a preferred return race.
An important rider in AG Insurance-Soudal’s Classics group
Pluimers has developed into one of AG Insurance-Soudal’s more versatile options for difficult one-day races.
She is not a pure sprinter, but she has enough finishing speed to contest a reduced-group arrival. She is also capable of following repeated attacks and making her own move when a race becomes tactical.
That versatility allows the team to use her in several ways. She can work for a protected leader, give the squad a second option if the race fragments or attack before a likely sprint to force other teams to chase.
Her place within the wider squad was examined in our AG Insurance-Soudal 2026 Women’s WorldTour team guide, which identified strengthening the Classics group as one of the team’s key objectives.
Pluimers’ absence reduces that depth. The team still has several riders capable of performing on cobbles and rolling terrain, but it loses someone able to bridge the gap between support duties and a protected role.
Her contract currently runs until the end of 2026 after she agreed an extension two years earlier. The reasons behind that renewal and her development within the programme are covered in our report on Ilse Pluimers extending with AG Insurance-Soudal.
European titles marked her development
Pluimers joined the senior professional peloton after establishing herself as one of the Netherlands’ leading young road riders.
She won the European junior road race title in 2019 before taking the European under-23 road championship four years later. The 2023 victory came on the Col du VAM circuit, where she defeated Anna Shackley and Linda Zanetti in a selective finish.
That performance remains the most significant individual victory of her career. It demonstrated her ability to survive repeated climbing, manage a championship race and still produce the required finish.
Our report on Pluimers winning the 2023 European under-23 road title followed a result that confirmed her as more than a conventional fast finisher.
She also won the Omloop van Borsele time trial in 2023 and has since built a steady record across the northern European one-day calendar.
Her results include ninth at the 2025 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, fourth at Dwars door het Hageland later that season and several strong performances in races where poor roads, short climbs and constant positioning gradually reduce the field.
A rider well suited to selective Classics
Pluimers’ strength lies in races that become too difficult for many sprinters without turning into pure climbing contests.
She can cope with cobbles, gravel sectors and repeated accelerations, then retain enough speed to finish from a small group. That made her a credible option for the 2026 Paris-Roubaix Femmes, where resilience and positioning can matter more than pure sprint speed.
The same qualities were visible during the 2026 Antwerp Port Epic. Although the route was almost flat in elevation terms, the rough surfaces and exposed roads created the type of attritional contest in which Pluimers is most effective.
She has also regularly been used as an attacking rider. Rather than waiting for a final sprint in which faster specialists may have an advantage, Pluimers is willing to move during a moment of hesitation and force the race to react.
That approach does not always produce a result, but it increases her value to the team and gives AG Insurance-Soudal tactical flexibility.
Previous hip discomfort adds to the concern
The latest injury update is particularly frustrating because Pluimers has experienced hip discomfort before.
She withdrew from the Thüringen Ladies Tour in 2024 because of pain in the same general area before later returning to training and racing.
Pluimers has not said whether the current problem is directly connected to that earlier episode. Without a confirmed diagnosis, it would be wrong to assume that the two periods of pain have the same underlying cause.
The recurrence of hip trouble nevertheless explains why a more cautious approach is now necessary. Continuing to ride through pain for several months has not produced the required improvement, leaving rest and targeted treatment as the more sensible option.
The challenge will be rebuilding only once normal movement is possible. Returning while the pain remains could simply restart the same cycle of compensation and interrupted training.
No timetable for Ilse Pluimers’ return
Pluimers’ update leaves the return date deliberately open.
She will not race “for a while”, but neither she nor AG Insurance-Soudal has indicated whether that means weeks or a more extended period away from competition.
The correct timetable will depend on the treatment, her response to reduced loading and whether she can gradually resume training without the symptoms returning.
For now, race selection is secondary. The first meaningful milestones will be pain-free daily movement, comfortable easy riding and the ability to increase training volume without a reaction.
Only after those stages will it make sense to consider a return to the peloton.
Pluimers has spent the past few months trying to maintain her season despite the problem. Her decision to stop now recognises that continuing in the same way was no longer working.
AG Insurance-Soudal will be without one of its most versatile young Classics riders, but a proper recovery offers far more value than forcing an early comeback and risking another interruption.
