While Tao Geoghegan Hart‘s overall victory at the rescheduled Giro d’Italia at the end of October may have come as a surprise to many – including to him – the 25-year-old British rider appears to have taken winning the second-biggest race in the world in his stride, and is already back on his bike and looking ahead to the 2021 season with his Ineos Grenadiers team.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport published on Instagram on Thursday, Geoghegan Hart fielded various questions from the Italian sports newspaper and its readers.
Asked whether he thought he might be capable of also winning the Tour de France or the Vuelta a España during his career, Geoghegan Hart replied: “Of course, that’s my dream. I think to win the Giro as your first Grand Tour is amazing, really – especially this year, with everything that’s happened and how difficult it’s been for everyone.
“But definitely – that’s the objective,” he continued. “I hope I’m going to have another 10 years or more of my career, and the plan is to fight every year for those races.
“And also for the Giro, of course,” Geoghegan Hart added, hinting at a return to next year’s race to try to defend his title. “I’ve always loved racing in Italy, and I’m looking forward to hopefully having a more regular season next year.”
By virtue of his Giro victory, Geoghegan Hart has elevated himself to among Ineos Grenadiers’ other Grand Tour winners – Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, Richard Carapaz and Chris Froome – although the latter will leave for Israel Start-Up Nation for 2021.
How he – and his team and teammates – might play things for next year is apparently still up for discussion, with Bernal having been unable to defend his Tour title this summer due to a complex back problem due to a leg length discrepancy, Thomas crashing out of the Giro early – which freed Geoghegan Hart up to ride for the Giro title – and Carapaz finishing second at the Vuelta a España after riding the Tour de France.
“In a lot of ways, it’s still a question for me,” said Geoghegan Hart of hid development and future goals.
“This has been my first five days back on the bike, and it’s been nice, because I’ve felt better than I’d anticipated after a month off, and certainly the strength you take from a Grand Tour is still there in the legs somewhere.
“But I think it’s a discussion we’ll have to have within the team in the next month, or six or seven weeks, and then we’ll see,” he added. “There are so many races that I’m looking forward to, and so many beautiful races in cycling, and I’ve always love racing in Italy, and so I’m sure I’ll be racing a lot there next year.”
That answer again hinted at a possible attempted defence of his Giro title, but whatever happens, Geoghegan Hart said that he hoped the racing calendar may return to something approaching a normal season next year following the cancellation and postponement of so many races this year due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“I think the fans have been incredible this year,” Geoghegan Hart said, “but I hope that we can have a bit more time between each race and more of the narrative that we normally have next year. I’m already looking forward to it.”
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