Earlier this month I managed a 75km tempo ride, around two hours and 30 minutes in the saddle, but to be honest that was a struggle.
Astana’s Laurens de Vreese is clearly made of tougher stuff.
The Belgian pro hopped onto the turbo trainer at 6.30am on Friday morning (March 20) and wouldn’t get off the bike for another 11 hours.
De Vreese racked up 368km on virtual training platform Zwift during his epic indoor adventure, inspired by his compatriot Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale), who rode a 365km day around East Flanders earlier this month.
While spinning around the online recreation of the Yorkshire 2019 World Championships finishing circuit, De Vreese held an average power of 202 watts, burning an enormous 8,000 calories.
He even used the hashtag #OliverNaesenChallenge as he one-upped the Classics specialist by keeping his epic ride indoors.
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De Vreese wasn’t the only pro to put up some mind-blowing virtual numbers over the weekend.
Dutch pro Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma) also put in a long shift as he spent seven hours in the saddle on Zwift to put in 250km on Sunday (March 22).
He averaged 252w for the effort, while riding around the Zwift world of Watopia.
Impressively, Gesink rode the entire virtual ride on the Tacx Magnum – effectively a treadmill for the bike, which mean he had to keep focus and avoid falling over for the entire ride.
The pros have been forced to improve their training regimes over the last few weeks, after the UCI cancelled all racing for the foreseeable future.
With no racing on the schedule some riders have taken a break from training, including Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) while others have keep the legs moving despite not knowing when the next race will be.
Currently, the next WorldTour race still scheduled to run for the men is the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, however with the rapidly changing landscape that could well change.
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