Tao Geoghegan Hart
Tao Geoghegan Hart (/ˈteɪoʊ ˌɡeɪɡən ˈhɑːrt/ (listen) TAY-oh GAY-gən HART;[6] born 30 March 1995) is a British cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.[7] He rode for Team Sky as a stagiaire in late 2015,[8] and joined the team permanently for the 2017 season. He won the 2020 Giro d'Italia, taking the jersey following the final day time-trial.[9]
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 | Ineos Grenadiers |
| Disciplines |
|
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber[2] |
| Professional teams | |
| 2014–2016 | Bissell Development Team |
| → 2015 | Team Sky (stagiaire) |
| 2017– | Team Sky[4][5] |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Early and personal life
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][10] His family is of Scottish and Irish ancestry. The name Tao is the Irish version of his father's forename Tom.[11] He played football until he was 12 and was a goalkeeper.[12] 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.[13][14] [12]
Geoghegan Hart learnt to ride a bike when he was five,[15] 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.[16] He gained a serious interest in cycling after his father bought him a second-hand women's Specialized Dolce when he was 13.[12] He took part in the Dunwich Dynamo cycle ride in the summer of 2008.[10] In 2009, Tao attended the launch of Team Sky, joining an amateur peloton riding behind Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.[17][16][12] He also took a Saturday job at Condor Cycles that year,[18] and was supported with bicycles, wheels, and kit by the London bicycle manufacturer.[19] He was also sponsored by London company Rapha as a young rider.[20]
Geoghegan Hart is a life-long fan of the Arsenal football club.[21]
Career
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.[10] He also competed internationally, and attracted attention for victories abroad and podium places at races including 3rd place at the 2013 Paris–Roubaix Juniors.[22] 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]
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.[23] He also rode as a Stagiaire for Team Sky in 2015, but opted to stay at Under-23 level for the 2016 season.[16]
In August 2016, Geoghegan Hart was confirmed as having signed for Team Sky for the 2017 season.[24] In August 2018, he was named in the startlist for the 2018 Vuelta a España.[25] In May 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Giro d'Italia.[26]
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.[27] 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.[28][29] 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.[30]
Major results
- 2012
- 3rd Overall National Junior Road Series[31]
- 2013
- 1st Overall Giro della Lunigiana
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Overall Tour of Istria
- 1st Stage 2
- 3rd Paris–Roubaix Juniors
- 3rd Road race, National Junior Road Championships
- 5th Overall Course de la Paix Juniors
- 2014
- 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège Espoirs
- 10th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
- 2015
- 3rd Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
- 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège Espoirs
- 6th Trofeo PIVA
- 7th Overall USA Pro Cycling Challenge
- 1st Young rider classification
- 8th Overall Tour of the Gila
- 9th Beaumont Trophy
- 2016
- National Under-23 Road Championships
- 1st Road race
- 2nd Time trial
- 1st Trofeo PIVA
- 2nd Overall Tour de Savoie Mont-Blanc
- 1st Stage 5
- 2nd Overall Course de la Paix Under-23
- 6th Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Young rider classification
- 6th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
- 6th Overall Volta ao Alentejo
- 7th Gran Premio Palio del Recioto
- 8th Giro del Belvedere
- 9th Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
- 10th Ruota d'Oro
- 2017
- 2nd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
- 4th Time trial, National Road Championships
- 4th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana
- 8th Overall Tour of California
- 8th Overall Tour of Yorkshire
- 2018
- 1st Stage 3 (TTT) Critérium du Dauphiné
- 5th Overall Tour of California
- 5th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
- 2019
- 2nd Overall Tour of the Alps
- 1st Stages 1 & 4
- 5th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 8th Tre Valli Varesine
- Combativity award Stage 20 Vuelta a España
- 2020
- 1st Overall Giro d'Italia
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st Stages 15 & 20
- 3rd Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 2021
- 9th Memorial Marco Pantani
- 10th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
- 10th Overall Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var
- 2022
- 5th Overall Tour of Norway
- 8th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné
- 2023
- 3rd Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 1st Stage 4
General classification results timeline
| Grand Tour general classification results | ||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | DNF | 1 | — | — | ||
| Tour de France | — | — | — | — | 60 | — | ||
| Vuelta a España | — | 62 | 20 | — | — | 19 | ||
| Major stage race general classification results | ||||||||
| Race | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||
| Paris–Nice | — | — | 32 | — | DNF | — | ||
| Tirreno–Adriatico | — | — | — | 30 | — | DNF | ||
| 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 |
References
- ^ a b Cary, Tom (20 October 2020). "Meet the streetwise "geezer" with designs on the Giro's pink jersey". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2020 – via PressReader.
- ^ a b c d Macleary, John (25 September 2014). "Tao Geoghegan Hart answers twenty questions ahead of the UCI Road World Championships under-23 road race". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ^ "Tao Geoghegan Hart". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ . Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
- ^ . UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ Hood, Ed (25 December 2013). "Tao Geoghegan Hart – "working with Axel Merckx is an amazing opportunity"". Velo Veritas. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- ^ "Ineos Grenadiers". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
- ^ . Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
- ^ "Giro d'Italia: Tao Geoghegan Hart wins first Grand Tour". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ a b c "Tao Geoghegan Hart".
- ^ Cary, Tom (19 October 2020). . The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d Bailey, Mark (25 October 2020). "Next Big Thing: Tao Geoghegan Hart profile (2013)". Cyclist.
- ^ "English Channel swim by Clissold Swimming Club (Star Bellied Sneetches)". Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ Quinn, Gary (26 October 2020). "What You Need To Know About Britain's New Cycling Star Tao Geoghegan Hart". The Sportsman.
- ^ "Hackney cycle champ set for Olympic stardom". Hackney Citizen. 7 September 2011.
- ^ a b c "Q&A: Tao Geoghegan Hart".
- ^ MacPherson, Will (27 October 2020). "Giro d'Italia 2020: How Hackney boy Tao Geoghegan Hart became king of Italy". The Evening Standard.
- ^ "Tao Geoghegan Hart, from bike shop worker to British Giro d'Italia winner". 26 October 2020.
- ^ "Junior Rider Tao Takes An Impressive Third In Roubaix".
- ^ "Rapha Congratulations".
- ^ Whittle, Jeremy (2 November 2020). "Tao Geoghegan Hart: 'I don't want this to be the only time I cross the line first'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
- ^ "The rise of Tao Geoghegan Hart: British prodigy's long road to Team Sky - Cycling Weekly". 15 February 2017.
- ^ "Faces of the Future: Eight things to know about Tao Geoghegan Hart - CyclingTips". 17 May 2016.
- ^ "Geoghegan Hart confirmed with Team Sky for 2017 - Cyclingnews.com".
- ^ "2018: 73rd Vuelta a España: Start List". Pro Cycling Stats. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ "2019: 102nd Giro d'Italia: Start List". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
- ^ "Giro d'Italia: Tao Geoghegan Hart wins stage 15 atop Piancavallo". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
- ^ "GB's Tao Geoghegan Hart sensationally claims Giro d'Italia glory after time trial". Guardian. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "Tao Geoghegan Hart's shock Giro d'Italia win 'the stuff of comic books'". Guardian. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "Giro d'Italia: Tao Geoghegan Hart wins first Grand Tour". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ "British Junior Men's Road Series Winners – The Definitive List". Bikesy.co.uk. 28 June 2017.
External links
- Official website
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at Team Axeon Hagens Berman
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at UCI
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at Cycling Archives
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at ProCyclingStats
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at CQ Ranking
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at CycleBase
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at Olympedia
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at Olympics.com
- Tao Geoghegan Hart at Team GB