Former Giro winner enters final contract year at Lidl-Trek: “I can still be hugely valuable”

In 2020, Geoghegan Hart’s breakthrough came seemingly out of nowhere. He overturned Jai Hindley in the final time trial to take his first Grand Tour title, with Wilco Kelderman finishing third. It looked like the beginning of a big GC career for the then-25-year-old, but apart from winning the Tour of the Alps in 2023, he never truly returned to that level and eventually left INEOS Grenadiers.

At Lidl-Trek, Geoghegan Hart hoped a new environment would bring the best back out of him. Instead, his results remained limited to a handful of top-10s in smaller races. Still, speaking to CyclingWeekly, he sounded optimistic about the new season — which he opened with 19th overall at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (Tour of Valencia).

“It’s the first normal winter I’ve had since I’ve been on the team,” Geoghegan Hart said, cautiously positive after another difficult spell. He explained that illness hit him shortly before Valencia, but that at least he had a foundation to fall back on. One line in particular underlined how long it has been since he felt like the rider who won the Giro: “I’ve not had one day on a bike where I really had magic legs or was feeling great for a few years now.”

Lidl-Trek’s internal hierarchy has also shifted. With Juan Ayuso arriving and Mattias Skjelmose continuing to develop, Geoghegan Hart is no longer the obvious Grand Tour leader he was signed to be. He is on the longlist for both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, but selection will depend on form and results.

For Geoghegan Hart, the priority is simple: get back to feeling good and racing consistently. “The best place for me in cycling when I’m healthy and good is the last seven to 10 days in a Grand Tour. Without doubt,” he said, before stressing that he has learned not to set rigid targets anymore. “There can be so much that happens in the meantime… we’ll see how my place in the sport develops in the next six months.”

Even so, 2026 is a big year on paper. The 30-year-old is in the final year of his contract, and results will matter — whether at Lidl-Trek or elsewhere. Geoghegan Hart believes he can still bring value beyond raw performance metrics too. “Building something more than just values that you see on a computer… those are things I really value,” he said. “Of course I still really want to try and be on my best level and do results, but I’m also focused on all parts of the sport, and part of that is using your experience.”

That also feeds into how he views leadership in cycling. “We use the word ‘leader’ in a weird way in cycling… because a guy with good legs is not necessarily a leader. They are two different things,” he explained. When Geoghegan Hart will next pin on a number is still unclear. But the message ahead of the season is: fewer grand declarations, more racing — and hopefully, at some point, those “magic legs” again.