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Egan Bernal must be dancing on one leg. The Colombian cyclist, champion of the 2019 Tour, recovers from back problems in Monaco, while he was watching the Giro d’Italia on television, a race in which this Sunday one of his best gregarians wore the pink jersey of the race champion: Tao Geoghengan.
For the Colombian cycling star, for the Ineos team leader, what happened is of great satisfaction, that title of Tao is as if it were his.
It may interest you: (Ineos won the Giro d’Italia and already has 45 victories on the World Tour)
The 25-year-old British runner is part of the new generation of the squad, from a cast that this year had had two major failures: the Tour de France, in which Egan had to retire, and in this Giro d’Italia, in which Gerain Thomas, his reference, went through the back door, after a fall.
The responsibility fell on the young man, one of those who has been pushing hard from behind for earning the title of leader in an Ineos that saved the year with this victory. Bernal and Tao have met several times, but in two, English has been key for the cyclist from Zipaquirá.
Many events cross the mind, but there are two important ones, both in 2018. The last stage of the Colombia Oro y Paz had as its protagonist the climb to Manizales. Tao was the golden gregarious for Egan to finish the job and become the champion.
Geoghengan led the pack for most of the climb, smashing Bernal’s rivals, who in the end only had to finish, win the bonus and leave with the crumbs a Nairo Quintana who was entrusted.
And three months later, Tao was part of the Sky group that gave himself so that Egan became the champion of the Tour of California, the first great title of the Colombian rider on the World Tour, the highest category in world cycling.
For all the above, Egan Bernal is one of the happiest members of the Ineos, because he has been a direct witness of the sacrifices that this Briton has had because their leaders appear, but this time it was his turn.
Tao always had sport on his mind. He played soccer, then was a swimmer and finally came to cycling. He was born on March 30, 1995 in London. She always saw in her dad, Tom, a sacrificial man and given by his family, by his five children, whom he raised with his construction work.
Tao Geoghegan Hart celebrates his victory.
The brand-new Giro d’Italia champion studied high school at Stoke Newington School, in which he fell in love with swimming. He was part of a young project in Hackney, a neighborhood located east of the British capital, in which several teenagers trained hard to cross the British channel, something that was fulfilled on July 28, 2008, in a time of 11 hours and 34 minutes.
He came to cycling because, according to him, “in the other sports he was in, he had disappointments with people”, and he arrived at an activity that although the group part is key, since the condition of pedaling and not depending on anyone is his ideal.
He joined the Hackney Cycling Club when he was 13 years old, but not happy With this he asked for a job in a bicycle warehouse called Condor Cycle, there he enlisted, he worked for a while and learned the secrets of this world.
In 2010, he began to build his cycling career. He toured the country in tough competitions and then represented England. Tao joined, a year later, the British Cycling program, for those under 16, which sought to discover new talents. There he worked with coach Stuart Blunt, who saw him as a potential winner of track competitions.
Young Geoghengan was selected for the Youth Olympic Games, Later he was in the Olympic development program for those under 18 years of age and in 2012 he was a silver medal in the European Track Championships and in 2013 he achieved victory in the Tour de Istira and the Giro della Launigiana.
His first season in the Under-23 category was in 2014, when he was part of the team of Axel Merckx, Eddy’s son, who was his beacon, light and guide on the route. At his side he ran the Tour of California, the Tour of UItah and races in Colorado, reaping experiences for the future.
Sky, the English team noticed him and he offered a test contract. It was in 2015. The option to move up in category and compete in World Tour competitions was close. The promising cyclist achieved the national U23 road title and this result enshrined him, It gave him that push that many need to be taken into account.
He arrived on the World Tour in 2017, in Sky, the best team in the world, alongside Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, two referents of pedalism in their country. There he began to learn, to know how champions are formed, to sacrifice for his teammates and to know at anchor how to win a three-week race.
He has never been in the Tour de France, but he has been in the Tour of Spain, when it was 62 in the 2018 edition and 20 in last year.
The Giro saw him retire in 2018, but this time he came back with everything. He was not one of the candidates for victory, with the low profile he manages he came to the competition to win stages, to help Thomas, but never thought of winning it.
As the days went by and as I watched Jakob Fuglsang, Domenico Pozzovivo and Vincenzo Nibali They sank and lost their chances of winning, Tao became more confident, developed his full potential in the third week and won the final victory.
He has not won much, he has only obtained five victories in his resume in competitions of the International Cycling Union: two stages in the 2019 Tour of the Alps, the two days in the Giro and the title of the latter.
He had never stood out in a big one, he had not had the opportunity because he was always covered by Froome, Bernal, Thomas, but when he was given the option he took advantage of it and confirmed that Ineos is present, that it continues to be one of the teams to take into account for the victories of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta and that the leaders are not just a matter of three cyclists, because he already took a step in that fight to get to fight for a captaincy in the team to go for the Tour de France.
Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@lisandroabel
