The end of the Vuelta also means an exceptional performance of Adam Hansen. The Australian rider of Lotto Soudal will complete his thirteenth consecutive Grand Tour today and that way he breaks the 57-year-old record of the Spaniard Bernardo Ruiz, who rode twelve Grand Tours in a row in the fifties. How exceptional this performance is, is indicated by the fact that in the history of cycling only about thirty riders succeeded in finishing three Grand Tours in one season, among them current sports director Mario Aerts in 2007.

Hansen started his road to the record at the end of 2011when he completed the Vuelta of that year and then he did the same at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta of 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. On GC he always finished between place 53 and 129. In the Giro 2013 Hansen won the seventh stage with finish in Pescara, when he rode solo to the finish after a rainy stage. More than a year later he repeated the effort in the Vuelta, when he jumped away from the peloton in the finale and stayed ahead until the finish in Cangas de Morrazo.

“This performance is definitely special and unique. After each Grand Tour more and more people started talking about the record. It was only after the sixth or seventh that it became an issue, when I completed the three Grand Tours for the second time in a row. It didn’t become an obsession, but of course I’m proud that I could break the record,” Adam Hansen said to the Lotto Soudal website.

“The hardest Grand Tour was without any doubt the Tour de France of this year, when I crashed in the beginning, got injured and had to continue for three more weeks. Also at the Giro of 2012 I crashed early in the race. Physically the Vuelta 2012 was the hardest, because that was the first time I rode the three Grand Tours in one season and I was exhausted.”

“The highlights are of course my stage wins, but also the wonderful performances of the team, like the stage wins of André and the yellow jersey of Tony. I keep my race number of all Grand Tours, as I do of each race, a jersey and the road book. I hope I can still win a stage at the Tour. If I will continue racing all Grand Tours? Until I fall off my bike (laughs). The only thing that’s a pity is that I can’t ride a lot of other nice races, but who knows that might happen someday.”