Adam Hansen (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian
Ironman triathlete and former professional
road bicycle racer
Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...
, who rode professionally between 2007 and 2020, for the and teams.
Career
Hansen was born in
Southport, Queensland
Southport is a coastal Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. In the , Southport had a population of 31,908 people. It contains the Gold Coast central business district.
Geography
Sout ...
, and turned professional in 2007, working with Dr. Lothar Heinrich of the
University of Freiburg. In 2012, Hansen became the second Australian to complete all three Grand Tours – the
Giro d'Italia, the
Tour de France and the
Vuelta a España – in a calendar year. He was the only rider to accomplish that feat in 2012, and the 32nd in cycling history. It was after Stage 12 of the Giro that he discovered he had broken his
sternum approximately two weeks previous, however since it was healing; he continued racing.
[Birnie, L. (2012). The Grand Slam. In E. Bacon & L. Birnie (Eds.), ''The Cycling Anthology Volume One'' (pp. 148-161). London: Yellow Jersey Press.] While he had free rein at the Giro, for the Tour he had work for
André Greipel (to win sprints) and
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Jurgen Van den Broeck (born 1 February 1983) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2004 and 2017 for the , , and squads. Van den Broeck specialised in the time trial discipline, having been Junior World C ...
(to achieve a good General Classification position).
In 2013, Hansen broke away early in the seventh stage of the
Giro d'Italia, a stage featuring numerous short and steep climbs. Hansen shed his breakaway companions and won in solo fashion in
Pescara in pouring rain, more than a minute in advance of the chasing group. In stage 19 of the
2014 Vuelta a España
The 2014 Vuelta a España took place between 23 August and 14 September 2014 and was the 69th edition of the race. It featured eight mountain stages, five hill stages, five flat stages, and three time trials (one team and two individual), two of ...
, Hansen attacked the peloton with to go and resisted the disorganised chase to win solo. In completing the
2015 Vuelta a España
The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race. The race was the 70th edition of the Vuelta a España and took place principally in Spain, although two stages took place partly or wholly in Andorra, and was the 22nd race in ...
, his thirteenth grand tour in a row, he broke
Bernardo Ruiz's 57-year-old record for consecutive grand tours completed. By completing the
2018 Giro d'Italia
The 2018 Giro d'Italia was the 101st edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tour races. The race started in Jerusalem on 4 May, with a individual time trial followed by two additional stages within Israel. Af ...
, he extended his own record becoming the only rider to complete 20 consecutive Grand Tours. The streak ended at 20, as Hansen did not take part in the
2018 Tour de France
The 2018 Tour de France was the 105th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 7 July in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, in western France, and concluding on 29 July with the ...
.
As an engineer Hansen has designed his own shoes and ridden with them on numerous occasions. He has also written software for his team, which manages their logistics.
After Lotto–Soudal opted not to extend Hansen's contract beyond the end of 2020, in October of that year he announced that he would focus on
Ironman Triathlon
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a swim, a bicycle ride and a marathon run completed in that order, a total of . It is widely consider ...
s in 2021, having previously competed in Ironman Florida in 2019. He ended his World Tour cycling career having finished 26 Grand Tours of the 29 he started.
In 2022, Hansen signed for Austrian Continental team
WSA KTM Graz
WSA KTM Graz p/b Leomo is a UCI Continental team founded in 2011 and based in Austria. It participates in UCI Continental Circuits races. Team roster
Major wins
;2011
:GP Betonexpressz 2000, Martin Schoffmann
;2013
: Tour Bohem ...
.
Personal life
He has been living in
Frýdlant nad Ostravicí,
Czech Republic since 2005.
Hansen is a
vegan.
"We speak to the vegan Grand Tour cyclist who makes his own salad dressings on the road"
gq-magazine.co.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
Major results
;2004
: 1st Overall Crocodile Trophy
: 1st Burgenland Rundfahrt
: 1st Grosser Preis um den Deutschlandsberg
;2005
: 1st Overall Crocodile Trophy
: 1st Wien-Lassnitzhöhe
;2006
: 1st Grand Prix Bradlo
: 1st Lavanttaler Radsporttage
: 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
: 2nd Salzkammergut Giro
: 2nd Giro del Mendrisiotto
: 10th Overall Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia
;2007
: 6th Le Samyn
;2008
: National Road Championships
::1st
Time trial
::2nd Road race
: 2nd Hel van het Mergelland
;2009
: 3rd Road race, National Road Championships
;2010
: 1st
Overall Ster Elektrotoer
::1st Stage 4
;2012
: 4th Road race, National Road Championships
;2013
: 1st Stage 7 Giro d'Italia
;2014
: 1st Stage 19 Vuelta a España
: 9th Overall Tour Down Under
::1st
Mountains classification
: 9th Overall Tour of Turkey
;2015
: 9th Overall Tour of Turkey
;2016
: 5th Overall Presidential Tour of Turkey
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Adam
1981 births
Living people
Australian male cyclists
Sportspeople from the Gold Coast, Queensland
Australian Giro d'Italia stage winners
Australian Vuelta a España stage winners
2014 Vuelta a España stage winners