After impressing at the Critérium du Dauphiné and then again at the recent Vuelta a Burgos with fifth overall, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) will make his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España. The 23-year-old is in his second year at Team Sky and, as he tells Cyclingnews Editor Daniel Benson, he isn't just heading to Spain for the experience.
Cyclingnews: You head into your maiden Grand Tour in a few days with the Vuelta a España. How's your form coming into the race?
Tao Geoghegan Hart: I didn't feel super at the Tour of Burgos but the team more or less gave me the choice of programme, which was really nice. So, I decided to get a few extra race days in because I always seem to struggle at the start of races. I don't really know what it is - maybe the different leg speed, the inertia of racing compared to training - but it was important because I could feel big jumps between London, San Sebastián, and then again at Burgos.
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It was hard because I wanted to do well and challenge for the win at Burgos, especially as it's one of the few 1.1 races I get to do in the year. I already had two and half weeks of training after nationals and I ended up overdoing it a bit after the Dauphiné, training too much, which is so easy to do when you're feeling good. I learned some good lessons from that but overall Burgos was good. If I'd been flying there I'd have been stressed out but there were positives and negatives.
Cyclingnews: The Vuelta represents your first Grand Tour but are you going there with the ambition of just gaining experience or are there bigger goals?
Tao Geoghegan Hart: That's still a little bit in discussion. I'm still waiting to hear what the team thinks exactly. Last year I was a bit unlucky, in that I wanted to do the Vuelta and obviously Chris [Froome] was going for it so they went for more experienced guys, which was completely understandable. So in hindsight, it would have been great to do it but there was no rush. I did some really nice races and a really good block. In contrast, this year I've been quite lucky that because of the team success we've had so far this year in Grand Tours, things are perhaps a little more open.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/geoghegan-hart-im-not-just-going-to-the-vuelta-a-espana-for-the-experience
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