How can one do 170 percent of their vo2 Max? One of the highest vo2 max a rider has ever recorded is 97.5 ml/kg/min.
VO2max is the maximum power you can produce aerobically. On top of that, there are short-term muscle reserves and anaerobic pathways.
There's an approximate formula: VO2 (ml/kg/min) = 11 * power (W/kg) + 7
If my power at VO2max is 4 W/kg (my lactate threshold would be lower - say, 3 W/kg?), my VO2max would be 11*4+7=51 ml/kg/min.
At the same time, I can do about 11 W/kg for 20 seconds (power meter numbers). That would be 275% of VO2max. Most of it would be coming from anaerobic reserves/pathways.