Rider Profile

Tao Geoghegan Hart

Lidl-Trek

Personal Details:

Nationality Great Britain
Date of birth 30/03/1995

Biography:

Tao Geoghegan Hart is a British cyclist who showed early promise in the classics, landing on the podium of Paris-Roubaix for juniors and as a stage racer with the overall victory in the hilly Giro della Lunigiana in 2013. He signed with the Axel Merckx's Bissell Development/Axeon team as an espoir and landed on the podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège for under-23s in 2014 and 2015. 

In 2015, Geoghegan Hart did a stint as a trainee with Team Sky but opted to remain with Axeon Hagens Berman for 2016 before joining the WorldTour in 2017.

He made steady progress in the pro ranks, with several top-10 finishes in stage races like the Tour of California and Vuelta a Burgos and competed in his first Grand Tour in the 2018 Vuelta a España.

In 2019, Geoghegan Hart made a splash at the Tour of the Alps, winning two stages and taking second place overall before moving onto the Giro d'Italia as co-leader with Pavel Sivakov, but he crashed out on stage 13. He returned to take a top 10 at the Tour de Pologne and then had two top three finishes in the mountains in the final week at the Vuelta a España.

The 2020 season started with Geoghegan Hart finishing on the podium of the Volta a Valenciana before the COVID-19 pandemic stopped all racing. When the season resumed, he started the Giro d'Italia ostensibly as a domestique for Geraint Thomas but Thomas crashed in the neutral zone on the roll-out of stage 3 and, after finishing the stage, was diagnosed with a fractured pelvis. Geoghegan Hart, who had given up over three minutes on the stage found himself in the position of team leader and steadily climbed up the GC, coming out of the stage 14 time trial in 11th place overall.

The next day, Geoghegan Hart escaped on the stage to Piancavallo with Team Sunweb's two leaders Jai Hindley and Wilco Kelderman and leapt away for the stage win, moving into fourth place overall. On stage 18, he followed Hindley on the summit finish at Laghi di Cancano, with the Australian out-sprinting him for the stage. Kelderman lost 2:18 but took the pink jersey and Geoghegan Hart moved into third place. On the penultimate stage to Sestriere, he again was matched by Hindley but claimed the stage win, drawing even on time with the Australian. The race came down to a 15.7km time trial in Milan, and Geoghegan Hart out-performed Hindley to win the Giro by 39 seconds.

Geoghegan Hart used his position as a Grand Tour champion to foster racial diversity in cycling, supporting his former Axeon team to sign riders from different backgrounds, resulting in the team bringing on Red Walters as a trainee in 2021.

Attempts at racing the Tour de France as team leader in 202 and Vuelta in 2022 didn't pan out for Geoghegan Hart, but he finished third in Tirreno-Adriatico and won the Tour of the Alps in 2023 before targeting the Giro again. He crashed out on stage 11 and fractured his hip, having to undergo surgery.

Geoghegan Hart left Ineos for Lidl-Trek for the 2024 season.

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