INTERVIEW | Tao Geoghegan Hart weighs ambitions into Vuelta a Espana: "There is no reason why I can't be at the level I was last year at the Giro"

Tao Geoghegan Hart is starting his first Grand Tour since the crash at the 2023 Giro d'Italia where he suffered very difficult injuries. The Briton is on a path to prove he's still got it in a peloton that is continuously evolving, and he is optimistic starting off the Vuelta a España.

A crash on the second day of the Vuelta a Burgos was another pebble in the shoe of the former Giro winner, who had to abandon the race after already being forced to miss out on the Tour de France. "My preparation for this race was severely compromised last week. In honesty it was never the plan to come here, the goal for the whole season was the Tour and then I got Covid at the Dauphiné and was off the bike for 10 days," Hart told CyclingUpToDate in a pre-race press conference. "It was obvious that I wasn't going to be at the right health to start at the Tour".

Then his plans have changed, and he began to focus on the Vuelta, which he would now target together with Mattias Skjelmose, both as outsiders for a final podium. It provides the team with more options in a field that features teams such as UAE Team Emirates and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe which have plenty cards to play. Hart has faced quite a lot of issues over the past year and a half but this is not stopping him.

"There's no reason why I can't contest Grand Tours, this year and in the future, I did everything right in the rehab," he assures. "I haven't had pain for seven or eight months now if not longer (Hart suffered a leg fracture last year at the crash in the Giro, ed.). I do have to have another surgery to remove metal from my leg this winter, but I don't have any issues, I have full power and range of motion in my leg."

This season he has raced to ninth at the Tour de Romandie and he was also on his way to a Top10 result before he was struck with Covid. But he is eager to get racing in Lisbon this Saturday and fight for a result. "It was a difficult seven or eight months last year off the bike, but there is no reason why I can't be at the level I was last year at the Giro. Yeah I believe that I can be contesting the Vuelta," he concluded.