.jpg) Geoghegan Hart at the 2021 Tour de France | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Tao Geoghegan Hart |
| Born | 30 March 1995 Holloway, London,[1] England, United Kingdom |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] |
| Weight | 67 kg (148 lb; 10 st 8 lb)[3] |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Lidl–Trek |
| Disciplines |
|
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber[2] |
| Professional teams | |
| 2014–2016 | Bissell Development Team |
| → 2015 | Team Sky (stagiaire) |
| 2017–2023 | Team Sky[4][5][6] |
| 2024– | Lidl–Trek |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Tao Geoghegan Hart (/ˈteɪoʊ ˌɡeɪɡən ˈhɑːrt/ ⓘ TAY-oh GAY-gən HART;[7] born 30 March 1995) is a British cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Lidl–Trek.[8] He rode for Team Sky as a stagiaire in late 2015,[9] and joined the team permanently for the 2017 season.
He was the winner of the 2020 Giro d'Italia, taking the jersey following the final day time-trial and becoming the first winner in the history of the Giro never to wear the maglia rosa until he had won it outright. As such, he was the fifth and most recent British rider to win a grand tour (after Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates), the second Briton to win the Giro (after Froome in 2018) and the youngest British rider to win a grand tour.[10]
Tao Geoghegan Hart was born in Holloway, London. The eldest of 4 siblings, he grew up in the London Fields neighbourhood of Hackney, attending Gayhurst primary school.[1][11] His family is of Scottish and Irish ancestry. The name Tao is the Irish version of his father's forename Tom and his first surname Geoghegan is just the Irish spelling of his father's surname Geoghan.[12][13] He played football until he was 12 and was a goalkeeper.[14] He was brought up as a vegetarian. He also became a keen swimmer after starting secondary school at Stoke Newington School; on 28 July 2008, when he was 13, he was part of a cross-Channel swimming relay with Clissold Swimming Club. The team of six completed the crossing in 11 hours 34 minutes.[15][16] [14]
Geoghegan Hart learnt to ride a bike when he was five,[17] and first had a BMX cycle as a young boy. He has said he recalls being impressed when attending the 2007 Tour de France prologue in London as a spectator.[18] He gained a serious interest in cycling after his father bought him a second-hand women's Specialized Dolce when he was 13.[14] He took part in the Dunwich Dynamo cycle ride in the summer of 2008.[11] In 2009, Tao attended the launch of Team Sky, joining an amateur peloton riding behind Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.[19][18][14] He also took a Saturday job at Condor Cycles that year,[20] and was supported with bicycles, wheels, and kit by the London bicycle manufacturer.[21] He was also sponsored by London company Rapha as a young rider.[22]
Geoghegan Hart is currently in a relationship with Carlotte Wubben-Moy - a professional football player who also grew up in East London and like Geoghegan Hart, attended Stoke Newington School. [23]
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Geoghegan Hart started competitive racing at the national level in 2010 with the East London-based club Cycling Club Hackney. He joined the British Cycling under-16 development programme in 2011, followed by the Olympic Development Programme for under-18s.[11] He also competed internationally, and attracted attention for victories abroad and podium places at races including 3rd place at the 2013 Paris–Roubaix Juniors.[24] He also took a clean sweep of mountains, points and general classification jerseys at the Giro Internazionale della Lunigiana in 2013.[2]
In 2014, Geoghegan Hart rode for Axel Merckx's Bissell Development Team. He finished third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège U23 and rode his first UCI 2. HC ranked race at the Tour of California in May 2014 before completing a second at the Tour of Britain in September when, riding for the Great Britain national team, he finished 15th overall.[2]
He was named in Scotland's Commonwealth Games teams for both Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018, but was unable to fit the competition into his race schedule on either occasion; he hoped to make the squad for Birmingham 2022 but was not selected.[13][20]
In 2015, he again finished third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège U23, eighth overall in the Tour of the Gila, 13th overall in the Tour of California and seventh overall in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, winning the best young rider classification.[25] He also rode as a Stagiaire for Team Sky in 2015, but opted to stay at Under-23 level for the 2016 season.[18]
In August 2016, Geoghegan Hart was confirmed as having signed for Team Sky for the 2017 season.[26] In August 2018, he was named in the startlist for the 2018 Vuelta a España.[27] In May 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Giro d'Italia.[28]
On 18 October 2020, Geoghegan Hart won his first stage of a Grand Tour, taking stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia on the Alpine summit finish of the Piancavallo. Following in the steps of previous winners Marco Pantani and Mikel Landa, Geoghegan Hart rode away from the remaining peloton with the Sunweb duo of Jai Hindley and Wilco Kelderman, out-sprinting Kelderman at the line to take the stage win. The result also took Geoghegan Hart up to 4th in the General Classification of the race ahead of the second rest day.[29] On 24 October 2020, he won his second stage of the Giro d'Italia, taking 2nd overall on the same time as the leader, and on the final stage on the following day, he finished 13th in a time-trial in a time which won the Giro d'Italia.[30][31] In taking the jersey following the final day time-trial, he became the first rider in Giro history to win the overall title having never carried the pink jersey during the race itself.[32]
Geoghegan Hart had a few tough seasons after his Giro d'Italia win in 2020 having to deal with COVID and repeated infections afterwards.[33] He finished 60th on GC in the 2021 Tour de France and notched only 19th in the 2022 Vuelta a España.
He returned to form in early 2023 after winning the 4th stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, his first win in over 2 years after the Giro victory.[34] He finished 3rd overall on GC, and continued on an upward trajectory by securing a 3rd place on GC in the 2023 Tirreno–Adriatico in March 2023.[35] His good form continued in 2023 as he went on to win the opening stage of the Tour of the Alps on 17 April and followed up by finishing first on stage 2 just a day later.[36][37] He finished the race first in GC on 21 April and claimed top spot in the points classification.[38]
Going into the 2023 Giro d'Italia, Geoghegan Hart was designated as co-leader for Ineos Grenadiers alongside Geraint Thomas.[39] However, a fractured hip sustained in a crash on Stage 11 required surgery, forcing him to withdraw from the race and ultimately ruling him out for the remainder of the 2023 season.[40][41]
In August 2023, it was announced that Geoghegan Hart would leave INEOS Grenadiers, having signed a three year contract with Lidl–Trek.[42]
Overall Giro della Lunigiana
Points classification
Mountains classification
Overall Tour of Istria
Young rider classification
Road race
Young rider classification
Combativity award Stage 20 Vuelta a España
Overall Giro d'Italia
Young rider classification Overall Tour of the Alps
Points classification
after Stage 1| Grand Tour general classification results | ||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
|
— | — | DNF | 1 | — | — | DNF | |
 Tour de France
|
— | — | — | — | 60 | — | — | |
 Vuelta a España
|
— | 62 | 20 | — | — | 19 | — | |
| Major stage race general classification results | ||||||||
| Race | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Paris–Nice
|
— | — | 32 | — | DNF | — | — | |
 Tirreno–Adriatico
|
— | — | — | 30 | — | DNF | 3 | |
 Volta a Catalunya
|
— | 53 | — | NH | — | — | — | |
| Tour of the Basque Country
|
90 | 68 | — | DNF | 29 | — | ||
| Tour de Romandie
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
 Critérium du Dauphiné
|
— | 13 | — | — | 10 | 8 | — | |
| Tour de Suisse
|
14 | — | — | NH | — | — | — | |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| NH | Not held |
| IP | In progress |
