Tao Geoghegan Hart

Tao Geoghegan Hart (/ˈteɪoʊ ˌɡeɪɡən ˈhɑːrt/ (listen) TAY-oh GAY-gən HART;[7] born 30 March 1995) is a British cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.[8] He rode for Team Sky as a stagiaire in late 2015,[9] and joined the team permanently for the 2017 season. He won the 2020 Giro d'Italia.[10]

This British surname is barrelled, being made up of multiple names. It should be written as Geoghegan Hart, not Hart.
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Geoghegan Hart at the 2016 Tour of Britain
Personal information
Full nameTao Geoghegan Hart
NicknameGoganga[1]
Born (1995-03-30) 30 March 1995
Holloway, London[2]
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[3]
Weight65 kg (143 lb; 10 st 3 lb)[4]
Team information
Current teamIneos Grenadiers
Disciplines
  • Road
  • Track
RoleRider
Rider typeClimber[3]
Professional teams
2014–2016Bissell Development Team
→ 2015Team Sky (stagiaire)
2017–Team Sky[5][6]
Major wins
Grand Tours
Giro d'Italia
General classification (2020)
Young rider classification (2020)
2 individual stages (2020)

Early and personal life

Geoghegan Hart was born in Holloway, London, the older of two boys, and grew up in the London Fields neighbourhood of Hackney.[2][11] His father is Tom Geoghegan, a builder with Scottish and Irish ancestry. The name Tao is the Irish Gaelic version of his father's forename.[12] He played football until he was 12 and was a goalkeeper.[13] 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.[14][15] [13]

Geoghegan Hart learnt to ride a bike when he was five,[16] 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.[17] He gained a serious interest in cycling after his father bought him a second-hand women's Specialized Dolce when he was 13.[13] He took part in the Dunwich Dynamo cycle ride in the summer of 2008.[11] Soon after, he joined Cycling Club Hackney and started serious training together with Alex Peters at the age of 14.[13][16] In 2009, Tao attended the launch of Team Sky, joining an amateur peloton riding behind Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.[18][17][13] He also took a Saturday job at Condor Cycles that year,[19] and was supported with bicycles, wheels, and kit by the London bicycle manufacturer.[20]

Geoghegan Hart is a life-long fan of the Arsenal football club.[21]

Career
Geoghegan Hart at the 2014 Tour of Britain.

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.[22] He also took a clean sweep of mountains, points and general classification jerseys at the Giro Internazionale della Lunigiana in 2013.[3]

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.[3]

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.[17]

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]

Major results
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

General classification results timeline
Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour 2017 2018 2019 2020
Giro d'Italia — — DNF 1
Tour de France — — — —
Vuelta a España — 62 20 —
Major stage race general classification results
Race 2017 2018 2019 2020
Paris–Nice — — 32 —
Tirreno–Adriatico — — — 30
Volta a Catalunya — 53 — NH
Tour of the Basque Country 90 68 —
Tour de Romandie — — —
Critérium du Dauphiné — 13 — —
Tour de Suisse 14 — — NH
Legend
— Did not compete
DNF Did not finish
NH Not held

References
  1. "Giro d'Italia 2020 - Geoghegan Hart si arrende a Magrini: "Mi chiamano tutti Goganga in Italia"". Luca Stamerra. Eurosport. 8 November 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. "Tao Geoghegan Hart". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  5. "Team Sky". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  6. "Team Ineos". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  7. Hood, Ed (25 December 2013). "Tao Geoghegan Hart – "working with Axel Merckx is an amazing opportunity"". Velo Veritas. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. "Ineos Grenadiers". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  9. "Young Brits join Team Sky". Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  10. "Giro d'Italia: Tao Geoghegan Hart wins first Grand Tour". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  11. "Tao Geoghegan Hart".
  12. Cary, Tom (19 October 2020). "Who is British rider and Giro d'Italia contender Tao Geoghegan Hart?". The Telegraph.
  13. Bailey, Mark (25 October 2020). "Next Big Thing: Tao Geoghegan Hart profile (2013)". Cyclist.
  14. "English Channel swim by Clissold Swimming Club (Star Bellied Sneetches)". Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  15. Quinn, Gary (26 October 2020). "What You Need To Know About Britain's New Cycling Star Tao Geoghegan Hart". The Sportsman.
  16. "Hackney cycle champ set for Olympic stardom". Hackney Citizen. 7 September 2011.
  17. "Q&A: Tao Geoghegan Hart".
  18. MacPherson, Will (27 October 2020). "Giro d'Italia 2020: How Hackney boy Tao Geoghegan Hart became king of Italy". The Evening Standard.
  19. "Tao Geoghegan Hart, from bike shop worker to British Giro d'Italia winner".
  20. "Junior Rider Tao Takes An Impressive Third In Roubaix".
  21. 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.
  22. "The rise of Tao Geoghegan Hart: British prodigy's long road to Team Sky - Cycling Weekly". 15 February 2017.
  23. "Faces of the Future: Eight things to know about Tao Geoghegan Hart - CyclingTips". 17 May 2016.
  24. "Geoghegan Hart confirmed with Team Sky for 2017 - Cyclingnews.com".
  25. "2018: 73rd Vuelta a España: Start List". Pro Cycling Stats. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  26. "2019: 102nd Giro d'Italia: Start List". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  27. "Giro d'Italia: Tao Geoghegan Hart wins stage 15 atop Piancavallo". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  28. "GB's Tao Geoghegan Hart sensationally claims Giro d'Italia glory after time trial". Guardian. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  29. "Tao Geoghegan Hart's shock Giro d'Italia win 'the stuff of comic books'". Guardian. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
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