Tour of Flanders jersey and other Annemiek van Vleuten treasures raise €18,000 for charity

The jersey from her final Tour of Flanders appearance, the skinsuit from the World Championship Road Race in Glasgow and the final leader's jersey of her career, were all items up for auction in an event hosted by two-time world champion Annemiek van Vleuten.

In total, over €18,000 were raised for the Olrik Foundation, whose 'I swim along' project aims to teach all children in Wageningen, Netherlands to swim. This was the fourth such auction hosted by Van Vleuten and sees the 41-year-old put clothes and other items from her attic up for bids in a fundraising drive for charity.

Alongside the many jerseys that were up for grabs, those in attendance could also pay for pictures with Van Vleuten, who wrote a blog post on her website to further explain the reasons behind this fourth annual auction - which sounds like it will also be her last.

"The 'I swim along' project is for families whose income is below a certain limit, for which the swimming lessons for the children are paid," wrote Van Vleuten. "That is one of the initiatives they have and I thought that was a very nice initiative that fits in my street to stimulate exercise in children. Every child just has to learn to swim and I am very happy that I can contribute to that.

"I have the suit in which I fell during my last Tour of Flanders, just before the Koppenberg. It is unwashed, the blood is still on it and so are the numbers. Normally I would have thrown that suit away, but now I thought; 'reserve it immediately for the auction'."

Suffering from her crash at the Tour of Flanders, Van Vleuten was only able to muster a 27th-placed finish in her final outing at 'De Ronde,' but she would go on to achieve more success in her last season as a professional and her auction loot included another notable jersey - that of the leader of the Tour of Scandinavia.

Van Vleuten won the race in August and has kept the leader's jersey from what turned out to be her final ever victory, in a career that remarkably included 103 others.

Now a retiree from the professional peloton, this looks to have been the final attic auction for Van Vleuten, but the funds raised at Roel Peerenboom Fietsen in Wageningen will have a ripple effect through the community for years to come.