'We're keeping our fingers crossed' – optimism surrounds Tao Geoghegan Hart ahead of his third year at Lidl-Trek

There’s a hope that it will be third time lucky for the former Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart at Lidl-Trek, as he starts his third season with the WorldTour team.

The Brit has endured two years of misfortune and injury since joining the squad in 2024. In his first year, a fractured rib and a Covid infection ruled him out of the Tour de France, while last season, he was sidelined by a stomach illness in the spring, and a chest infection in the summer.

Writing on Instagram last June, the 30-year-old said it was “proving quite tricky to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together at once” in his career.

Lidl-Trek’s performance manager, Josu Larrazabal, has now said he’s “optimistic” about Geoghegan Hart’s prospects for 2026.

“With 2026, we're entering the final chapter of his project: he had a three-year contract. The first two years went badly for various reasons, but I'm optimistic,” Larrazabal told Italian outlet bici.pro.

“We finally managed to have a good winter. We're keeping our fingers crossed, but so far it's been ideal. He feels it too; he's happy. He's had a smooth run.”

Geoghegan Hart’s highest race placing since joining Lidl-Trek from Ineos Grenadiers in 2024 is third overall at last year’s Tour of Slovenia. His last victory came at the 2023 Tour of the Alps, where he won two stages and the overall.

According to Larrazabal, the 2020 Giro winner will not have a “rigid” race programme this season. He will open his campaign at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, with either Tirreno-Adriatico or the Volta a Catalunya to follow.

From there, the Brit will aim for a possible return to the Giro for the first time since 2023, when he abandoned the race with a fractured hip. He has only raced one Grand Tour – the 2024 Vuelta a España – since then.

“No matter how strong you are, no matter how many victories you've had in the past, when you go through such a long period where things aren't going smoothly, things get tough, really tough,” Larrazabal said. “This time we're taking it one step at a time. And for now, the only certainty is that the winter went well.”

Commenting specifically on the Giro, Lidl-Trek's performance manager said Geoghegan Hart will need to be “in certain conditions” if he is to be on the start line. “He can't just go there for the sake of it. It's a race he's won. To be there, he must first rediscover himself, the confidence and stability he's lacked in recent years,” he added.

“We don't even know if we'll make the Giro, because we have to take several steps first. The priority is health, then consistency.”