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Tao Geoghegan Hart has endured a testing two years since winning the 2020 Giro d’Italia but after a series of illnesses, setbacks, coach changes and personal reflection, the Ineos Grenadiers rider seems back to his best, his career trajectory again pointing upwards.
The 28-year-old Londoner raced stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps with team leadership on his shoulders but calmly finished off the superb work of his teammates, including Geraint Thomas, to catch Hugh Carthy in the final five hundred metres and then win in the hillside Austrian village of Alpbach.
Geoghegan Hart won a stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in early February and was third overall at Tirreno-Adriatico. Before that, his previous victory was the 2020 Giro d’Italia. He argues he has never been away; he has just been busy overcoming problem after problem, without any securing any results, but also without giving up.
Working with new Ineos Grenadiers coach Dajo Sanders, who joined from Team DSM in the winter, seems to be the key to Geoghegan Hart getting back to his best.
“You’re never really making a comeback, everything is different, every preparation is different,” Geoghegan suggested, revealing the problems he has faced in the last two years and the solution.
“Last year I was off the bike for a week four times between my first race of Valencia and the start of May, each time starting from zero and really chasing and pushing and pushing really hard. In cycling, you have to get back on the horse as quickly as possible but it’s not always the best for you.”
“I’ve had six coaches in the last seven or eight years. There was something that I always felt that I missed, like in a recipe. I saw all the riders doing well but I always felt like I hadn’t really found a recipe, to have confidence in a certain methodology. But In the last six or seven months, I learned a lot about the best training for me.
Dajo Sanders seems to have helped Geogeghan Hart understand that less can mean more.
“I was really nervous to change again this year, to be honest. But it’s been great. There’s a cake that’s been baked in the last few months. I’m happy with how everything’s gone. I hope that will continue to show for the next five or so months that we have left,” he said.
“It’s so easy to do too much training and always to do more. But having a clear plan and really good communication with Dajo and working super closely together has worked. It’s nothing crazy, in a lot of ways I would say I’m training less…
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