Tao Geoghegan Hart has little interest in looking back. He prefers to live in the present, to give his best in every race he rides and enjoy every moment in life.
For the 28-year-old Londoner, now riding for Lidl-Trek after seven years with Team Sky and Ineos Grenadiers, there is no ‘before’ his crash at the 2023 Giro d’Italia and no ‘after’ for his return to the peloton following eight months of recovery and intense physiotherapy.
His femur fracture will not be an impediment and will never be used as an excuse. Every race is a goal of some kind, not a stepping stone to something else, with Tirreno-Adriatico his next week of racing after impressing on his return at the recent Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta.
“I think it's about living in the moment and being happy,” Geoghegan Hart told Cyclingnews before Tirreno-Adriatico.
“I'm super happy to be here. I’m looking forward to the week. We live in a high-pressure world and I want to try and make the most of it all. Whether I have the ability or not is another question. Sometimes you're faced with the reality that you can't compete for the win but you also have to try and make the most of every race.”
Geoghegan Hart crashed out of stage 11 of the 2023 Giro d’Italia, a slide out in the rain leaving him with a complex femur fracture. He opted to spend several months doing special rehabilitation in the Netherlands, rather than rushing a return to the peloton in 2023, and he was able to fight for the GC at the Volta ao Algarve in his return to racing.
Tirreno-Adriatico is his next test. He may lose some vital seconds to Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and others in the opening 10km time trial but should be a contender in some way like in 2023 when he finished third overall. Lidl-Trek also have Jonathan Milan for the opening time trial and sprint finishes, with Toms Skujiņš and Andrea Bagioli in their lineup.
“This will be another nice step. I think fatigue resistance-wise, it’s a big difference with a better field, but we’ll see,” Geoghegan Hart said with curiosity.
“I don't know if I’ll be a contender but the feeling I had in training last week was really good. Algarve was in some senses really good with a few points like the TT to work on.
“I was curious to see how I felt in the days after Algarve because it's a bit of a shock to the body to be in that environment with race intensity but I felt really good. I'm just happy to be back honestly. And the rest we take it day by day.
“The races are so hard, especially when you're a GC rider, you need to be so on it every day. That's the mentality that I adopted a couple of years ago, and I just tried to continue in that way.”
Geoghegan Hart was given a warm welcome back to the peloton after eight months away, with former teammates, staff, rivals and especially many fans happy to see him back racing.
There was a lot of affection on show in the Algarve and that is likely to continue in Italy after he won the 2020 Giro d’Italia.
“To be back in the races to see some friends, both riders and staff and be around the sport that I've not seen in a long time was really, really nice,” Geoghegan Hart said, slightly cautious about mixing his personal emotions and professional desire to race well.
“I think most riders are pretty friendly with each other. We’re perhaps not close friends or perhaps on personal terms with everyone but a lot of us have raced together. It's a small world. There’s respect.
“Life and so pro cycling is not just having adversity. I think everyone has adversity in their lives. It's about how you come back from that. For me there's a story which is still to be written.”
