Tao Geoghegan Hart‘s hopes for a good performance during the elite men’s individual time trial at the 2017 UCI Road World Championships were scuppered by an early crash and breathing problems.
The 22-year-old from London had been a relatively late call up for the event in Bergen, Norway, after the withdrawal of Steve Cummings. Any chances of a good time were spoiled when he crashed, scuffing up his right-hand side and cutting his knee. He remounted and finished the race.
“I just didn’t really get on top of it,” Geoghegan Hart said after his ride.
“I woke up with a tight chest and hoped I’d get over it in the warm-up but I couldn’t really breathe.
“I crashed pretty early on, there’s a couple of corners with bumpy lines and I just overcooked it and lost the front wheel.”
Despite the incident, Geoghegan Hart said that he liked the layout of the 31km route, comprises two laps of a circuit and a tough final climb of Mount Floyen to the finish line.
“I’m fine though, I quite liked the course, but it’s probably my least well-ridden time trial of the year,” he said.
>>> Twitter reacts to controversial bike changeover at World Champs time trial (video)
Geoghegan Hart is now scheduled to take part in the elite men’s road race, which closes out the 2017 World Championships on Sunday, September 24.
Great Britain’s junior rider Lauren Dolan also endured a nasty crash on the Bergen course on Monday, cutting her right leg deeply and suffering road rash.
After changing her bike and remounting, Dolan finished her ride and was then taken to hospital for treatment.
