OMG!!! Adam Hansen might be getting tired.

//OMG!!! Adam Hansen might be getting tired.

OMG!!! Adam Hansen might be getting tired.

Beer me

Hey, give the man a break. He’s ridden 19 grand tours in a row and now he says that streak may come to an end in the 2018 season.

The accumulated fatigue, the zillions of kilometers, the endless mountains — you know, it’s taxing physically. He could use a break of some kind, skip a Giro, or Tour or Vuelta and just, we don’t know, sleep more, rebuild the old immune system.

While his race schedule pencils in the 2018 Giro for May, Hansen says his grand tour-style sufferfest will probably end at the Tour de France or Vuelta. He’s getting a little rubbery-legged, if you must know. A little worn down by the grind.

“I think I’ll do the Giro next year for sure and then I might skip the Tour. Or do the Tour and not do the Vuelta. I’ll have to speak to the sports directors first to see that they want and hopefully work out a good plan,” Hansen told cyclingnews.

Hansen to Lotto-Soudal: guys, I got the record and nobody is crazy enough to beat it in my lifetime so can I please sit the Tour out? It was already going to be hard enough and then they throw in over 27 kilometers of cobblestones. Think I’d like to skip that, honestly.

Nobody in cycling will begrudge Hansen the right to close the door on his grand tour record. It’s not only an astonishing physical and mental accomplishment but given the chaos and crashes, it’s also a tribute to his good fortune. He had his injuries but was always able to soldier on.

Hell, the man has a staggering 26 grand tours in his legs. His legs are essentially full, crammed with grand tour pain and suffering. He’s obviously gotten pretty good at chanting the Jens Voigt mantra “shut up legs’ but the legs are still shouting and saying, enough with the record, we’re done.

It takes a certain mentality to ride that many grand tours and by all evidence Hansen has mastered the skills. We’ll always remember him for riding up Alpe d’Huez, through the insane crowds on Dutch Corner while holding a beer in his hand — and drinking it. There’s a swig of panache. (Dutch fans would throw beer and Froome but give Hansen a re-fill.)

Still, the repetition is clearly getting to him and he’s ready for a switch. “I think it will be good. I have had the same program every year and it has been very repetitive so it will be nice to have a little bit of change,” he said. “I look forward to doing something different and just not the same thing.”

So he’ll most likely end with a nice, round 20 grand tours in a row. That’s plenty. Adam Hansen is giving the record a rest.

 

By |2019-02-03T15:44:27-08:00October 30th, 2017|Uncategorized|0 Comments

About the Author:

Leave A Comment