Multi-talented Briton steps up from Axeon Hagens Berman
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Tao Geoghegan Hart (Axeon) held onto the best young rider today jersey today(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Tao Geoghegan Hart made the trip to Morgan Hill in January(Image credit: Courtesy of Specialized)
The U23 podium of Christopher Lawless (JLT Condor), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Axeon Hagens Berman) and James Shaw (Lotto Soudal U23)(Image credit: Simon Wilkinson / SWpix.com)
Tao Geoghegan Hart in the Specialized wind tunnel(Image credit: Courtesy of Specialized)
Tao Geoghegan Hart (Axeon) moves into the best young rider jersey
Team Sky has confirmed the signing of 21-year-old British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart for the 2017 season as it continues to rejuvenate its roster.
Geoghegan Hart joins from US-based Continental outfit Axeon Hagens Berman, which is managed by Axel Merckx, and he was again supported by the Dave Rayner fund in 2016. He is no stranger to the British team having raced in Team Sky colours as a stagiaire in 2015 at the Giro del Piemonte and Japan Cup.
Geoghegan Hart is multi-talented rider. He is the current British under-23 national road race champion has enjoyed a successful 2016 season, winning the Trofeo Piva in Italy and finishing 12th at the Tour of California and Tour of Utah. He was third in the 2013 junior Paris-Roubaix and second overall in the Course de la Paix stage race and the mountainous Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc this year.
Geoghegan Hart is the second new British rider to join Team Sky for 2017 after the WorldTour team announced that team pursuit gold medallist Owain Doull will also make the step up from the Wiggins team.
"It's super exciting for me. There are guys here who have come through a similar path to me and also have a background on the track," Geoghegan Hart said via Team Sky's official announcement.
"I was on British Cycling's programme up until the age of 18 when I went to Axeon, so these are riders that I have looked up to for a very long time. To be teammates with them is very exciting, and hopefully it will make the step up into being a WorldTour rider a little bit easier.”
Memories of the 2010 Team Sky launch
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The London-born rider attended the Team Sky launch event in January 2010, aged just 14, and he has fond memories of that day.
"I remember riding behind those guys and dreaming, just being in absolute awe. It's not dissimilar to that now, dreaming to be on Team Sky, and I still look up to those guys.
"I guess you never know, but maybe it was small moments like that when I was young that inspired me to go out there, ride my bike every day, and brought me to the path I find myself on years later."
Geoghegan Hart is about to start the Tour de L'Avenir stage race with the Great Britain team.
"This season was about getting another year stronger, becoming more consistent, and developing as a rider and as a person, before making the big step up from a Continental team to a WorldTour team. I'm 21 now, so I think this is the ideal time to be stepping up into a big team. I'm super, super excited," he said.
