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Adam Hansen has just over two weeks of running in the platoon before moving on. The 39-year-old Australian will move to ironman triathlons after the Giro d’Italia. His first will take place on 7 November in Lisbon, Portugal, less than two weeks after the completion of the Giro in Milan.
“I can’t wait, ” said Hansen, There’s so much to look forward!Me and every single thing I do. I will be alone and I will also be completely guilty of each and every mistake I make.
“I can’t wait to experiment with equipment, food, education camps, execution programs. It will be a whole new pleasure after so many years of running as a team. “
However, Ironman triathlons are absolutely new to Hansen. After the last race of the 2019 season, the Guangxi Tour, Hansen flew to Florida to make his first Ironman: a 3. 8km swim, a 180km motorcycle level and a full 42km marathon. .
“No one knew I was going to do that, ” he said. I sought to keep it a secret for everyone. The result was that I probably had no concept of some of the basics of sport: things like helping the race or the operation of the feeding area. [Journalist] Brad Culp was present, to do an article about the Florida Ironman and I identified my call from the professional platoon. At first I hesitated to speak because I wanted to remain anonymous, but he helped me so much that he became my manager. new adventure took the decision to facilitate change».
– Adam #Vegan Hansen (@HansenAdam) October 3, 2020
Hansen has been a member of the Lotto-Soudal team since 2011. He and nine of his teammates won a resignation card last week, his time as one of the Belgian team’s oldest runners is over.
“This story has been a little distorted,” Hansen says. It is the law in Belgium that you will have to send resignation letters by October 1 or you will automatically have a new employment contract for next year. letters for 3 years. By 2021, I have the idea of integrating my new game into a professional cycling team because it’s a really wonderful way to prepare for the Ironman, but Lotto-Soudal is a little too classic for that, John Lelangue [the leading team] discussed it with game managers.
“I also have to have complete freedom to outline my schedule and not have last minute requests for races that I don’t need to do. With so many young people on the team, the calls were going to get going.
Other Lotto-Soudal runners can and are still negotiating with the Belgian team for a new deal by 2021, Hansen has made his decision.
Thinking of his time in the professional platoon, Hansen has fond memories of having been part of the successful Lotto-Soudal racing exercise that developed around André Greipel. He considers this to be a highlight of his long career.
“There was that day at [Three Days of] De Panne where we were still traveling with HTC-Columbia,” Hansen recalls. “André, Siebie [Marcel Sieberg], Vincente Reynes and I were at a local McDonald’s having an ice cream while talking about Omega Pharma [the predecessor of the current Lotto-Soudal team]. Andre hesitated to leave HTC because he felt he could only win with us. I said he was still competing in second-place races and that he deserved to do it on the Tour de France. We spend it all in combination with Omega-Pharma.
It is a continuation of a very successful partnership that also worried Jurgen Roelandts, Lars Bak, who joined in 2012, and Greg Henderson, who arrived from Team Sky the same year. Together, they formed the basis of the 11 stages of the Tour de France won by Greipel between 2011 and 2016.
“We were an organization of friends and we knew others and we knew others so well,” he says. “It’s very rewarding to be part of a super strong and successful setup like we did with André but also on HTC with Mark Cavendish. We were unstoppable together.
La Panne, however, is not one of Hansen’s favorite races. The depressing, bloodless weather doesn’t have many clever memories for the Australian pilot.
“The same goes for Paris-Nice,” he adds. I came here since the Australian summer, then did some shopping in the Middle East and then came here Paris-Nice, every and every year. With global warming and climate change, winters start later and last longer. the cycling calendar never changed, so Paris-Nice was sometimes cold, wet and snowy.
“Coming from the warmest weather, it’s been a big surprise to the system, but I never said no. It’s something I probably wouldn’t miss at all, to be honest. Now I can run whenever and wherever I want. I’m also much more at home. “
Hansen plans to dedicate himself 100 percent in his new game and hopes to make nine Ironman races a year and upload some parts of Ironman as a smart measure as well. With the COVID-19 crisis far from over, Hansen had to think about his plan.
“What we’re seeing now in professional cycling is that level racing is much more vulnerable to cancellations than daytime racing,” he says. “Ironman is also a one-day race. Also, sometimes there isn’t as much audience as cycling. Fans have more online presence. When you start with waves as competitors, there’s an herbal social estre. Even when everyone starts together, the differences will soon be there or right after swimming.
“I am in the Czech Republic and can pass to the Ironmans of Germany, Austria and France. I hope that many occasions can be celebrated next year.
Hansen is a very wise guy and known for his technological quirks, manufactures his own ultralight cycling shoes and has helped popularize much narrower handlebars and the use of ski settings in races and general stages, speed racing. cycling in triathlon and also plans to introduce some of his inventions into his new game.
“Being free of ICU regulations will be great,” he says. I’ll be like a kid in a confectionery! I can do much more with aerodynamics on motorcycles that don’t want to be regulated by the ICU. I can also have my own sponsors for appliances and food. Also pictures with a Japanese, corporate named Leomo with motion research and aerodynamics and we’ll take a look at the position on the bike.
“I think in the triathlon we can be much more efficient, but also more comfortable than the classic time trial position. There are so many things that can be done and I look forward. I can swim even if I’m already under The biggest gain is on the motorcycle because it’s the longest event.
“Running will be the hardest thing for the body. The trick is to run some cruise marathons and do two or 3 a year at full speed.
– Adam #Vegan Hansen (@HansenAdam) October 3, 2020
Hansen is an eternal fan favorite in Australia and elsewhere. He thinks other people can identify with him because he’s a great worker, a professional cyclist, so to speak. He’s polite and generous, but he’s not, someone who wants attention.
“I’m sure I’ll be in the spotlight,” he says. “It was never me. The Tour de France has been a theme park on wheels. That’s why I love the Giro d’Italia so much. It was my first of the 29 Grand Tours and it will be my last. This is where true enthusiasts are covered by the look of the road.
“When friends from the Czech Republic or Australia come, they also realize that. And Italian cuisine is also one of his favorites. I also add that the lack of Campanile hotels in Italy is an advantage,” he climbed with a smile.
In 14 years at the point of the sport, Hansen has noticed many adjustments, the biggest adjustments did not necessarily come within the team for which he runs – Belgian cycling is still classic in the center – came here from the composition of the platoon.
“When I started, we had maybe 3 or 4 cyclists under the age of 21 in the total platoon,” he says. “The T-shirt of the most productive young cyclist in the Grand Laps was intended for cyclists under the age of 25. you see a lot of young people. Sport has also been more science-oriented. The steps we have taken on the device have been enormous over the past five or six years.
When he remembers many years in the platoon, he doesn’t regret it.
“There will be things I may have done differently, but I look back at that time with pride,” he says. “I won national championships, some European races, won stages in the Giro and La Vuelta, and I did this series. of 20 Grand Tour I deserve to be very proud of what I have achieved.
“What follows doesn’t scare me at all. I’m in a position to move on and I can’t wait for this new bankruptcy in my life. “