Heading into stage three of the Giro d’Italia 2020 all focus was on Geraint Thomas. The 2018 Tour De France winner and undisputed leader of Team Ineos Grenadiers was the heavy favourite to pick up a second career Grand Tour win to go alongside his 2018 Tour De France triumph.
Unfortunately for arguably cycling’s most unlucky top contender stage three would see Thomas experience perhaps his most unlikely and devastating end to a grand tour. As the race organisers got the stage three under way, Thomas would be involved in a horrible neutral zone crash which would lead to a fractured pelvis and yet another Grand Tour exit. This was truly a bitter pill for thirty-four-year-old who looked to be in fantastic form following his controversial omission from the Grenadier’s 2020 Tour De France team.
An Unlikely Hero
Thomas’s crash left Ineos staring down the barrel of what would be undoubtedly be their worst season following Egan Bernal’s early exit from the Tour De France. As Ineos scrambled to reassess their strategy for the Giro an unlikely hero emerged in the form of twenty-five-year-old Tao Geoghegan-Hart.
The man from Hackney was relatively unheralded outside of the UK heading into this year’s race but what he did in the final week made international cycling fans sit up and take notice as he took home two individual stages.
Heading into the final stage on the same time as Australian Jai Hindley, Geoghegan-Hart had his work cut out to become just the second British winner of the Giro d’Italia following Chris Froome’s 2018 victory.
What transpired was nothing short of extraordinary when you consider that the British rider had finished in 126thplace in stage one’s opening time trial, as he beat the Australian by 39 seconds to put on the pink jersey for the first time in the race.
Geraint Thomas’s Tweet
Team director Sir David Brailsford was clearly ecstatic as his team completed their most successful ever Grand Tour with seven individual stage victories and of course Geoghegan-Hart’s overall victory as he went on to say “It’s the stuff of comic books really,” Brailsford said. “I would say for Tao there was a moment in this race when he switched from being ‘maybe, maybe, maybe’ to ‘I can do this’. He’s a geezer at the end of the day. Him and Bradley Wiggins, London has something about it.”
Speaking of Wiggins, the former Tour De France and Olympic Gold medal winner was full of praise for his London compatriot “I hope he kicks on from this and gets the opportunity to do it in the Tour de France and we can talk about him for the next 10 years. He’s a worthy, worthy champion and everything this country needs as a role model in sport. Much like Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome, but this guy is young. I hope Tao gets his reward and his standing in this sport.”
A Bright Future
For Team Ineos the future is certainly bright as they transition away from the glory days of being Team Sky with Sir Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and perhaps even Geraint Thomas. This new generation of young riders spearheaded by Geoghegan-Hart, 2019 Tour De France Champion Egan Bernal, Richard Carpaz (Who currently leads La Vuelta A Espana) and highly rated fellow Brit Thomas Pidcock who is fresh off of winning the under-23 Giro D’Italia have the potential to dominate the peloton for the next decade.
