A champion Austrian triathlete says a van driver kidnapped her while on a bike ride — but that she managed to sweet-talk him into letting her go from his home where he held her captive.

Nathalie Birli, 27, was training on her bike Tuesday evening near her home in Graz when she was knocked unconscious by a red delivery van, The Times reported.

“When I came to, I was naked and tied to chair in an old house,” Birli told the newspaper. “The man said: ‘If you do what I want, you’ll be free tomorrow.’ I had the feeling that I was in a house far away from help and I was sure that no one would find me there.”

Birli said the captor held a knife as he forced her to strip naked, tied her to a chair and poured alcohol down her throat.

“Suddenly, he forced my mouth and nose shut and tried to suffocate me. He let go of me but then he forced me to get into a bathtub full of cold water and wanted to drown me,” she said.

However, the athlete was able to talk the man out of his sinister plan.

As the day went by, Birli tried to wear down her captor by sweet-talking him and complimenting his orchids, she said.

“I admired them,” she said. “All of a sudden the culprit was nice to me. He said he was a gardener.”

Eventually, she was able to negotiate her release from the kidnapper.

“I made him a suggestion: ‘Let’s just say it was an accident and you can let me go now,'” she said. “He accepted the deal and cut the tape. I was allowed to get dressed and then he drove me all the way to my front door.”

By the time Birli returned home, her partner had already reported her disappearance, leading to a search for the missing athlete, The Times reported.

Authorities were able to use the GPS tracking on Birli’s racing bike to locate the suspect. The 33-year-old man — whose name hasn’t been released — was arrested at his home, authorities said.

Birli took to social media after the terrifying ordeal to update those who searched for her.

“I was hit, beaten together, caught up and brought to a small house off the road – like in a bad movie,” she wrote on Facebook. “Thank God I was able to free myself and I am well except for a broken arm and a head injury.”