Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) defended the riders' protests ahead of stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia. In a statement on social media, Hansen, from Australia, said the 258-km stage was deemed "unnecessary" by the riders in light of multiple early starts, bad weather, and the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday morning, chaos enveloped the city of Morbeño. Ahead of this stage, a vote was held among the teams and at the start of the race.

Hansen played a key role in discussions between the riders and the race organizer, RCS. After much confusion, the stage was shortened considerably, and everyone boarded buses and cars to the new start line, 124 km from the finish.

"For those of you who don't know, there were 16 teams that voted to shorten the stage because of the super early morning and long travel time," Hansen posted on Twitter.

"Due to fatigue and immune system issues in this race, the riders felt it would be superfluous to start the 260km stage in the rain with a pandemic on the horizon.

"Even though the choice to shorten the stage was not made by the 16 teams, when I arrived at the start line, there were only four riders there. The rest were under the tent, sheltered from the rain. Everyone in the tent was in favor of shortening the stage."

John Lerangue, general manager of Lotto Soudal, disagreed with the riders' actions and said his team was "on the side of RCS." Hansen also clarified that his discussions with the race organizers were not on behalf of the Belgian team, but as an individual.

"I spoke on behalf of all the riders who were not on the start line, as Adam Hansen personally. I am not Adam Hansen of Lot Soudal. 'It was the consensus of all the athletes who were not on the starting line. Any of them could have started, but they all chose not to start and remained under the tent after the official race time.

Although the organizers accepted the riders' request, race director Mauro Veni expressed his disgust at the situation and subsequently threatened legal action.

"It was an unacceptable decision and we had to live with it," Veni told Italian broadcaster RAI after the stage began in Abbiategrasso.

"Now we are thinking about going to Milan, but then someone else will have to pay for this."