Annemiek van Vleuten fires out 400km in one ride

Annemiek van Vleuten has a reputation for mind-blowing training rides, and it looks like the world champion isn’t slowing down.

This time the Dutch pro took on a 400km ride with some of her compatriots, covering almost the entire length of the Netherlands and back in a single day.

Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) rode with Jan-Willem van Schip, who planned the route, for an 11-hour day in the saddle, covering a total of 400.14km.

Despite the enormous distance covered, Van Vleuten held an enviable power and average speed, holding 177w for the day and averaging 35.6km/h.

In an Instagram post, Van Vleuten said: “Today my neighbour Jan-Willem van Schip got me into this crazy 400km plan. Thanks guys for a nice day out.”

The demands on the body are pretty enormous even for a pro like Van Vleuten, who burned more than 7,000 calories.

Unsurprisingly she set a few records on the way, topping the Strava leaderboards on more than 20 segments and taking countless other top-10s.

This is just another addition to the catalogue of crazy rides Van Vleuten has taken on.

Earlier this year she rode 234km in an ‘empty the tank’ ride while training with team-mates from the men’s Mitchelton-Scott squad in Italy.

In January she was almost at the top of the leaderboard for the pro riders stacking the most kilometres on Strava, as she had done 2,636km in just two weeks.

Team Ineos rider Egan Bernal was the only pro to have done more, with an additional 2km over Van Vleuten.

Former time trial champion Van Vleuten has a 100 per cent win rate for 2020, having only raced in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February, where she took a solo victory 40 seconds ahead of her rivals, before the racing season was suspended due to coronavirus.

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Racing is set to return with Strade Bianche on August 1 and we are likely to see Van Vleuten back in action as soon as racing restarts.