Wonderful story | Six years ago Annemiek van Vleuten cycled with a 15-year-old boy in New Zealand: ‘He is now a professional’

Annemiek van Vleuten shared on her Twitter a wonderful anecdote from six years ago when she was training in New Zealand and a boy joined her. A boy who turns pro.

It’s no secret that Annemiek van Vleuten loves adventure. Ignore the usual training places and look for other commands. Last winter, for example, she warmed up the “half peloton” for Colombia. In his wake, Tom Dumoulin, Taco van der Hoorn and Koen Bouwman, among others, traveled to South America.

From Queenstown 🇳🇿 2016… Catching up 6 years later in Livigno.
In 2016, I asked on Twitter who wanted me to take a tour of Queenstown.
1 person introduced himself: 15 years young & super motivated @reubentnzl Cool to catch up: Reuben signed a pro contract with @GroupamaFJ pic.twitter.com/Vw0vs4pI3V

— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) June 25, 2022

Van Vleuten trained in New Zealand six years ago. In Queenstown to be exact. She then tweeted if anyone wanted to join her on a training trip. One person signed up for training in his home country: Reuben Thompson, who was born in Queenstown. Six years later, Thompson signs a contract with Groupama-FDJ and Van Vleuten meets him again. Now at Livigno in Italy for goals to come in the second half of the season.

By the way, Thompson is known as a very promising talent. He won the Baby Giro last year, in which he finished fifth this season. His best result this year is a second place on the Circuit des Ardennes, where he only had to recognize his superior in Sweden’s Lukas Eriksson.