HART Former swimmer Tao is walking on water after Grand Tour glory
BRITISH cycling’s latest Grand Tour champion Ta o Geoghegan Hart swam the English Channel in a relay as a 13-year-old.
But who needs breast stroke when you can walk on water?
Inspired by an open letter from Sir Bradley Wiggins – our former king of the road – Geoghegan Hart rode into the history books in one of the most astonishing Grand Tour triumphs of all time.
When Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates were wiped out by a fractured pelvis and positive Covid19 test respectively, British interest in winning the Giro d’Italia was widely assumed to be as deceased as Monty Python’s celebrated parrot.
But now Geoghegan Hart, 25, joins Chris Froome, Wiggins, Thomas and Yates among the superstars of our blazing saddles.
“It’s bizarre,” claimed Geoghegan Hart.
“Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that this would be possible when we started nearly a month ago in Sicily.
“All of my career I’ve dreamed of trying to be in the top five, top 10 maybe, in a race of this stature.
“So this is something completely and utterly different.
“I think this is going to take a long time to sink in.”
Geoghegan Hart only joined Ineos – then known as Team Sky – in 2017.
And when Thomas crashed out on only the third stage, TGH appeared to be too far down in the general classification to mount a serious challenge for the Pink Jersey.
But he was catapulted into contention by winning the mountainous stage 15 at Piancavallo – and suddenly the penny dropped.
With almost half of the three-week race’s climbs loaded into the final week, and Geoghegan Hart’s star on the rise as a worthy mountain goat in his own
right, the podium did not seem so distant.
From 126th after the opening stage in Sicily, a stunning ride up the switchbacks of the snowcovered Stelvio Pass on Thursday took him to within 15 seconds of the overall lead.
And when he won his second stage of the race on Saturday, after another oxygen-sapping climb up to the Sestriere ski resort, only hundredths of a s e con d s e parat ed Australia’s Jai Hindley and Geoghegan Hart.
They went into the final 9.75- mile time trial , finishing in the shadow of Milan’s iconic Duomo, neck and neck ck – unprecedented d in Grand Tour history. ory.
Hindley was s last of f the ramp, but Geoghegan Hart
– a self- proclaimed Scot t brought up on n the mean streets s of Hackney in n east London, n, blew him away by 39 seconds.
When his win was confirmed, ed, after an agonising ing three-minute wait for Hindley to finish, the son of a builder shared a kiss with partner Hannah
B a r nes, a former British champion.
He also hugged d Ineos Grenadiers ers principal Sir Dave ave Brailsford, who ho revealed: “As a 15- year- old Tao bunked off school ol to come and ride beuys.” behind the other guys.”
Before setting g off down the ramp, mp, TGH tweeted: d: “Sundays for me e will always be e playing football l on the marshes s and going to Brick rick Lane market with th my old man and brother. r. Today is just another Sunday.” nday.”
Wrong, mate: This will go down as the he Super Sunday you pulled led off an Italian Job like no o other.