Tao sprints into the podium hunt in Italy

CYCLING

BRITAIN’S Tao Geoghegan Hart roared into contention at the Giro d’Italia after sprinting to his first Grand Tour stage win.

The Londoner, right, is now just 2min 57sec behind long- time leader Joao Almeida, with some tough mountain stages to come in the Italian Alps over the final week.

After bookies’ favourite Geraint Thomas crashed out with a fractured pelvis just three stages into the three- week race, British interest in the podium appeared to be over. And with Thomas out of the reckoning, the Ineos Grenadiers, who suffered a dismal Tour de France, had been expected to settle for the transient glory of stage wins.

But Geoghegan Hart’s superb win on stage 15 at Piancavallo was the Grenadiers’ fifth at the Giro and lifted him to fourth in the General Classification.

Geoghegan Hart, now within a second of the podium, said: “The plan was to support Geraint and I really believe that Geraint would have been on the podium of this Giro, or better. Crossing the line first is something truly incredible. I’m honoured to be a part of this team.”

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