Tao's Profile

Hart was named to ride for Great Britain in the road race and individual time trial at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, just months after a stunning success at the Giro d’Italia made him one of the most talked-about young riders in the world.

Riding with his team, Ineos Grenadiers, the Londoner won two stages and a dramatic overall victory in the Italian Grand Tour, only pulling on the leader’s pink jersey for the first and last time on the final stage in Milan, an individual time trial.

In so doing, Hart became just the fifth British rider ever to win a Grand Tour and the second – after Chris Froome in 2018 – to finish on top of the podium in the Giro.

Biography

A competitive rider from the age of 15, starting with his local club in Hackney, Hart quickly came to the attention of British Cycling, joining their development programmes at under-16 and under-18 levels.

By 2012, Hart was beginning to ride in international races and recorded the first of many notable results at the start of 2013 with a third place in the Paris-Roubaix juniors race. He also showcased his potential for stage races before the end of 2013 – coincidentally, in Italy, where he would enjoy his great success eight years later – as he won a stage plus the overall, points and mountain classifications at the Giro della Lunigiana, one of Europe’s leading junior stage races.

Hart’s development continued, after signing a deal to ride with the American Bissell Development Team owned by Axel Merckx, with a third-place finish at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege under-23 race and respectable showings in the Tour of California and the Tour de l’Avenir. Before the end of 2014, he had also completed his first Tour of Britain, finishing 15th overall while riding for a Great Britain team.

He would do similarly in the 2015 Tour of Britain, this time finishing just outside the top 20, but by that stage his talent had caught the eye of Team Sky who signed him as a “Stagiaire,” an amateur riding for a professional team, on a short-term contract.

It was little wonder, given the improvements that Hart, still only 20 at the time, had shown throughout 2015, particularly in stage races – of which he completed eight throughout the year, winning the youth classification at the US Pro Challenge and coming second in that category at the Amgen Tour of California.

Hart also showed his potential in one-day races, placing third for a second successive year in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege under-23 race and finishing third in the British Under-23 National Championships in the individual time trial.

Stage race success

By 2016, with his Bissell Development Team now bearing the name Axeon Hagens Berman, Hart won a major one-day race on the under-23 calendar – the Trofeo PIVA in Vicenza, Italy – and continued to make his mark on the world of stage racing, particularly in his team’s United States home country where he won the youth classification at the Silver City’s Tour of the Gila and came second in that category at the Amgen Tour of California. Hart also won a stage of the Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc and, for the third consecutive year, turned in a competitive showing riding for GB in the Tour of Britain.

It was no surprise that Team Sky – the forerunner of Ineos Grenadies – had seen enough and, in August 2016, announced that they had signed him for the 2017 season, with early-season one day races and stage races a big part of his schedule.

Highlights included an eighth place overall on general classification at the Tour de Yorkshire, the same result at the Amgen Tour of California and a creditable 14th at the Tour de Suisse. Hart also rode, and completed, his first UCI World Championship road race in Bergen, Norway.

By 2018, and a fifth place overall at the Amgen Tour of California, Hart was ready to step up his programme of racing and was part of the Sky team at the Criterium du Dauphine, where he helped them win the team time trial stage, and a strong performance at the Vuelta a Burgos in August earned Hart his first selection for a Grand Tour – the Vuelta ciclista a Espana in Spain.

Hart completed the Vuelta’s gruelling 21 stages, finishing 62nd on general classification, but returned with a much stronger performance 12 months later, at the 2019 Vuelta, where he finished 20th overall and showed his climbing potential with a fifth place in the mountains competition.

He also edged closer his first ever Grand Tour win, with third and second place finishes, on stages 15 and 16, respectively. The 2019 season did see Hart win a stage of a major race, however, with two such victories at the Tour of the Alps where he came second on general classification, 27 seconds behind winner and team-mate Pavel Sivakov.

If you have been inspired to get on a bike...

Get Involved