Lotto Soudal standard bearer Adam Hansen, who missed months of this season due to a coronavirus outbreak, has vowed to race in 2021.

Hansen, 39, had been competing in the Tour Down Under, Race Torquay, Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, and UAE Tour until the calendar was suspended in March due to a global health crisis.

Hansen said he had intended to continue racing next year, but the pandemic has strengthened his resolve.

"I will race again next year," he told Cycling News without hesitation.

"I don't have a contract for next year, but I will. I wish I had another year, especially this year. I feel cheated."

Hansen has been with Lot Soudal for nearly a decade and recently supported the players by informing the staff of two pay cuts the team was forced to implement under the current climate.

"I had no problem accepting these [pay cuts] because I understand the economy and its effects. I feel very fortunate that many of my sponsors are still paying me and that I am able to stay home and train. Compared to others, I think we cyclists are the ones who complain the least," Hansen said.

Hansen, a two-time Grand Tour stage winner, is skeptical that the season will end with a modified full schedule, citing the threat of a second wave of COVID-19 and global government restrictions.

"I mean the race is on, the sponsors are satisfied, everything is satisfied. I think the race will start. But there could be a second wave and the second part could be cancelled," Hansen speculated.

The Australian, who has lived in the Czech Republic for 15 years, has been tested for coronavirus three times this year. He was one of about 600 UAE tour participants who were locked down and tested before being allowed to leave Abu Dhabi in February. Hansen missed his originally scheduled flight and fell ill after the race.

"I wanted to come directly to the Czech Republic. That was my top priority," Hansen said.

"I actually entered with my Australian passport because I also have an Italian passport, but I didn't want to show that at all," he laughed.

"I flew to Krakow, Poland, and then we drove across the border, and that's when I got really sick. I had a fever, and I got a call from a woman in Poland who told me that I had come in contact with someone who had been infected with the coronavirus. There was someone on my flight who had been infected with coronavirus."

"She said I had to self-quarantine. I called the Czech health authorities and was retested in person and tested negative."

Hansen began to feel better and was able to move around more easily, but soon became worse again.

"I went to the doctor and he didn't know I had been tested twice before. He thought I had the disease and sent me home.

"I think there were eight positives in the Czech Republic at the time, all from Italy on a ski vacation. In fact, there was a Wikipedia page that showed all the positives. I kept updating it over and over again. They were all traceable [Hansen continued. 'I live right next to a mountain rescue center and an ambulance center. When I came in for the inspection, the ambulance came from a different hospital than the one that was there.

"What they did was they drove in, they came out, they came out, they dressed formally and put on all their gear so that everyone on the street could see them. They were really cautious. It was like a full suit, and even when they put the gloves on over the uniform, they taped over the gloves and the uniform and taped over everything," Hansen explained.

"She [the medical officer] came in, examined me, then went outside and the guy sprayed her down. He had a stopwatch and waited for three minutes until the disinfectant killed everything on her. [There were no positives on this side, so I thought I would be the first positive. When they did that twice, I thought, 'Oh, this is not good. I don't want to be known as the guy who infected the Czech Republic.'"

Hansen tested negative for coronavirus on all three occasions.

Hansen said the Czech Republic immediately implemented a lockdown protocol. He was required to wear a face mask and train, but unlike other World Tour riders, he was not confined to his home and indoor trainer.

"Maybe a day later, when Italy was locked down, we went directly after that, followed by Slovakia. The other countries were a week or two after us. It was crazy," he recalled.

"We were super lucky to get into the blockade so early. I was always allowed to train outside, the stores were always open, the hardware store was only closed for, I think, a week. It was really nice, actually. There are no high mountains in other countries where you can train outside, like in Belgium."

Hansen adhered to the revised training program while the UCI and industry officials worked to revise the calendar; since 2012 he had been in Italy during this time to compete in the Giro d'Italia, but not now.

"I knew firsthand that I was going to be out of the race for a long time, and I thought, 'What's the point in beating myself up? ' I saw the guys in Belgium still doing 250km rides and I thought, 'I'm not going to be able to race for at least two or three months.'

"I've been staying fit, training on the bike every second or third day, doing a lot of core training. But still, I have three months until the race. That's a long time."

Since the UCI calendar changes were announced, Lotto Soudal has asked athletes to submit their race program preferences.

"They don't want to do training camps. They want to be isolated for as long as possible. Hansen said, "They give us the race program and ask that we all look at it and then pick the A and B programs we want."

Team staff were scheduled to call the athletes individually last week to discuss their schedules.

"If possible, we are trying to put together a race program that will satisfy all the riders and fulfill their wishes. For me, my first choices were Milan-San Remo, the Criterium du Dauphiné, the Tour de France, and the Giro d'Italia. And my second choice was the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España."

Hansen is somewhat of an anomaly in the World Tour, as his life does not revolve solely around cycling, and he has other faces besides being a professional athlete. A stage winner of the Giro and Vuelta a España, he works with Leomo, maintains a real estate investment portfolio, has a background in computer science, and manages other entrepreneurial ventures, including his Hanseno series.

"I was unfazed. I hate to say it, but I like this closed atmosphere,' he laughed. 'No, really. I have always said that if I were a superhero and had only one superpower, it would be to stop time and just catch up with something. The world stops and I can just do whatever I want.

"I actually enjoy it. I'm fixing things around the house, building stuff, and I'm very busy and productive. I still feel like a cyclist. It's not like I've disappeared or anything," Hansen added. [I'm] looking forward to the race. I like training more than racing. I'm allowed to train outside, and I've never had a problem with that. On the mental side, there are intra-team calls and you can see that some of the riders are really struggling.

"We're trying to take advantage of everything so that when the season starts, we can just focus on cycling."