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Adam Hansen develops web app to help fellow pro cyclists

Lotto-Soudal's serial Grand Tour finisher and bespoke shoemaker has IT skillz too...

Currently riding his 14th consecutive Grand Tour at the Giro d’Italia (he’s completed the previous 13, a record for any rider) and with a sideline in bespoke cycling shoes – he rides in his own creations – you could be forgiven for thinking that Lotto-Soudal’s Adam Hansen doesn’t have time for much else.

But you would be wrong. It turns out that the Australian rider is also a bit of an IT wizard (of Oz, if you will) and has designed a web-based app that professional cyclists’ association the CPA says will make it easier for its members to express their concerns over issues that arise during races.

Proposed by Hansen himself, the app will also help riders keep abreast of the latest communications from what is, in effect, their union, and is launched in a season during which there are several hot topics around – the UCI’s trial of disc brakes and the governing body’s adverse weather protocol among them.

Rather unsnappily called CPAOCS, or CPA Online Communication System if you’re not into the whole brevity thing, the organisation says that in particular, “it will be very useful to support the work of the CPA delegate during the WorldTour races, who will be able to collect in real time the opinions about important issues of the race from the peloton, such as in case of extreme weather conditions, or to communicate the decisions taken from the organiser.”

The association adds that “For the CPA it will also be an efficient way to make surveys on arguments that affect the riders such as the recent discussions about the use of disc brakes or safety issues.”

According to the CPA, the app will be available to 953 riders (500 WorldTour and 453 Professonal Continental), 41 teams in the top two tiers of the sport, 13 national rider associations and 11 of the organisations own delegates who attend WorldTour races.

CPA president Gianni Bugno said: "Since a long time we felt the need to communicate with the peloton in an easy and immediate way for big and small issues and when Adam proposed us this tool to make it happen, we were very happy.

“With the CPAOCS we can finally work close to the riders and show them all the work that the CPA does for the common good.

“We hope that this step will also prove to the Institutions how  the CPA has grown in recent times to represent better and better the riders and how much  respect, therefore, we deserve in the Cycling Commissions and Working Groups,” added Bugno.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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5 comments

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haruto | 3 years ago
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wow great news. Web development has a number of pros: High earning potential, opportunity for growth, and flexibility are usually top of mind for most who get into the industry. I think I will try to make own app too in the future and use some advices from https://www.intellectsoft.net/services/it-consulting-services during its work

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mdavidford replied to haruto | 3 years ago
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...or olds.

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Poptart242 | 8 years ago
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Hansen is a bloody polymath. He also wrote the program that arranges all of Lotto Soudal's logistics and has a fashion line.

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notfastenough | 8 years ago
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As helpful as this is, the CPA shouldn't be waiting for a rider to come up with this in his spare time.  Where's the initiative on their part to instigate and improve those communications to the riders?

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STATO replied to notfastenough | 8 years ago
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notfastenough wrote:

As helpful as this is, the CPA shouldn't be waiting for a rider to come up with this in his spare time.  Where's the initiative on their part to instigate and improve those communications to the riders?

 

Well id imagine they had the whole email thing already, but the article suggests the app was "Proposed by Hansen himself" so presumably he also offered to develop it for a cost to the CPA.  Probably more cost effective than getting an outside developer to make it, who has no understanding of the true requirements and would therefore need more management and a technical specification written etc.

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