"Transformed" Annemiek van Vleuten ready for final season: "I’m less explosive than I was in the past"

The long and storied career of Annemiek van Vleuten is entering its final phase and as the 40-year-old prepares for her swansong year she claims to feel "transformed."

"I’ve ‘transformed’ myself more into someone of longer efforts," van Vleuten revealed in a blog post. “My one, two to four-minute efforts have become less good. I’m less explosive than I was in the past. That’s partly to do with my age and partly because I have transformed myself into a stage-race rider. You just lose some explosiveness.”

Despite having turned 40, van Vleuten is determined she will bow out in style. As such she's recently taken to training with the biochemist renowned for helping Eliud Kipchoge break the previously illusive barrier of a sub two hour marathon.

“In my training, Armand and I have tackled that explosiveness again. It’s also very nice for me to not lose motivation in my final year because we can still come up with new things," Movistar Team's Dutch superstar reveals. “Armand has said that it’s a pity that I’m going to stop after this year, because we still have quite a few things to improve and time is too short for that, so it’s a pity that I only just started working with him. On the other hand, it is also nice to gain so much knowledge in my last year and, who knows, maybe it will also come in handy in my career afterwards.”