Tao Geoghegan Hart has earned his rest this off-season.
The Brit returned to the UK as an unexpected Grand Tour winner after his remarkable performance in the Giro d’Italia, which saw him triumph on the final stage after a tumultuous race for the Ineos Grenadiers.
But after travelling back to London to celebrate the victory and take some deserved rest, Geoghegan Hart, 25, is already preparing for 2021, and has said he hopes to race for Grand Tour victory every year.
In an interview with Italians newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Hackney-born pro said the dream is to also win the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, to complete the set of three-week victories after his success in the Giro.
Geoghegan Hart said: “Of course that’s my dream.
“I think to win the Giro as your first Grand Tour is amazing really, especially this year with everything that’s happened and how difficult it’s been for everyone.
“But definitely, that’s the objective. I hope that I’m going to have another 10 years or more of my career and the plan is to fight every year for those races and also for the Giro of course.”
Ineos went into the Giro backing pre-race favourite Geraint Thomas, but after the Welshman crashed out in first week it looked as though another Grand Tour victory was out of reach for the British team.
But in the final week Geoghegan Hart emerged as an unexpected front-runner, thanks in part to some phenomenal support rides by Rohan Dennis.
The race came down to the final time trial in Milan, with Geoghegan Hart tied on time with Sunweb’s Jai Hindley as the former eventually came out on top.
Ineos also came away with seven stage victories – two for Geoghegan Hart, four for Filippo Ganna, and one for Jhonatan Narváez.
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Geoghegan Hart said: “As a group, not only the riders, also with the staff, we had a really amazing three weeks of course, not without problems and difficulties. We lost two of our team along the way and we had some tough moments for sure.
“It feels quite a long time ago, but I can’t wait to see to see the guys again. And I’m sure it’s a race that we’ll be talking about for the years to come. And certainly it’s a race of course that I’ll never ever forget.”
He added that he is now back on the bike for the first time since the Giro, riding for up to three and a half hours as he begins his preparation for 2021.
