Good things come to those who wait

You wonder what would satisfy such a driven individual; one whose laconic tone strikes a sharp contrast with his results. But, beneath that driven exterior, Geoghegan Hart is patient. Growing up he had to be “the first to do something, or the quickest or the best,” and he credits Axel Merckx, general manager of the Axeon Hagens Berman under-23 team with whom he plies his trade, for helping him to take a longer view.

“Feeling that you’re ready is important. It’s a very different mentality to what I had when I was growing up, where I had to be first to do something, or the quickest or the best”

He is impressed by Merckx, son of the great Eddy, and by his team, one which has served as a finishing school to the likes of Movistar’s Alex Dowsett and BMC Racing’s Taylor Phinney.

Crossing the pond

Geoghegan Hart has never taken the obvious route. His decision to join a team in the US when he is fêted at home is just one example. A smooth succession to British Cycling’s venerated Academy must have beckoned this graduate of the Talent Team and Olympic Development Programme. Instead, he accepted Merckx’s offer and headed Stateside.

It’s an arrangement which allows him to represent Great Britain in rounds of the UCI’s Nations Cup – a fiercely competitive series for under-23s – and, for the past two years, at the Tour of Britain, where Geoghegan Hart finished 15th overall in 2014.

Apprenticeship

Inevitably, it is the future that is of the greatest interest when talking to a rider who last season guested with Team Sky at the Gran Piemonte and the Japan Cup. How does he remember the experience of riding for the biggest team in the sport?

“My team last year had 12 riders; this year it’s 16, but a big pro team has double that, and three times as many staff,” he says.

“It’s the whole experience of being a part of that, from small things like getting ready for a race on a team bus and wearing a kit that’s come to be iconic, to being able to travel out to Japan and have all these mad Team Sky fans cheering you on and enjoying the racing. It’s another one to add to the list.”

Fellow Hackney tyro Alex Peters has already moved to Sky, and Doull will graduate from Team Wiggins next season after performing duties with Great Britain’s men’s team pursuit squad in Rio this summer. Geoghegan Hart, one suspects, will continue to plot his own course. The Yates brothers have proved at Orica-GreenEDGE that Sky is not the only employer for riders from these shores. In fact, the stock of British riders has never been higher.

“My generation is in a very, very lucky position whereby guys like Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins and even further back, Chris Boardman, have set this trend that British riders are on the whole very professional and consistent with their performance,” says Geoghegan Hart.

We owe a lot to previous generations who forged that reputation [for British riders]

“The landscape has definitely changed in the last few years, just by the sheer number of high performing British pros – men and women. That can now be seen in the fact that British riders are turning pro, but also further down the ladder there are riders being picked up by amateur teams who are enthusiastic to have them. We owe a lot to previous generations who forged that reputation.”

Geoghegan Hart’s reputation is one built on tenets of intensity on the bike and intelligence off it. The British road race championships in Stockton-on-Tees beckon in a month’s time. The competition for the under-23 jersey is likely to be as ferocious as the battle for the senior title. And with both fields run together…well, who knows? A youthful national champion is not beyond the bounds of possibility.