Tao Geoghegan Hart pays tribute to former team-mate Chad Young

Team Sky’s Tao Geoghegan Hart has described how his late team-mate Chad Young was in his thoughts during the Tour de Yorkshire. The two riders were both on the American Axeon Hagens Berman development team prior to Geoghegan Hart signing with Sky for 2017.

Young passed away on Friday after sustaining a head injury after crashing during the final stage of the Tour of the Gila the weekend before.

“I was thinking of him, and his family, and also the staff of my old team," said Geoghegan Hart, after placing eighth overall at the Tour de Yorkshire on Sunday.

"They’re just doing their job and part of their job shouldn’t have to be with a 20-year-old guy during the last moments of his life on the side of the road,” he said.

“It’s really really sad. It reaches deep into cycling. I think the one think we can take is that it’s amazing to see the support from all of cycling for Chad and his family and everyone involved with the team.”

He added: “It definitely serves as a reminder to make the most out of every day we’re lucky enough to have and value the people around me who are giving the ability to do amazing days of racing like today where there’s just people going wild all day long.

“I think it just makes you realise that everything can disappear in an instant, and to cherish it.”

>>> Tour of California 2017: Latest news and race info

Geoghegan Hart is now readying himself for an assault on the Tour of California, starting May 14.

Speaking after the three-day Yorkshire race, the 21-year-old Londoner said: “[California’s] a different race to this – you probably couldn’t get much more different. But I’m looking forward to it. I think we’ll have a pretty young but cool team there. I think it’s going to be exciting and it’s obviously a familiar event for me and we’ll see a few faces from the past.”

Geoghegan Hart has ridden the Tour of California three times — twice for US based Axeon Hagens Berman.

Geoghegan Hart is currently beginning a short US-based training block before travelling to Sacremento to begin the Tour of California on May 14, where he has twice come second on the young rider classification, and was 12th overall last year.