TAO GEOGHEGAN HART’S impressive year continues, with the 23-year-old the lone Scot named in the GB team for the UCI Road World Championships, which take place in Innsbruck, Austria later this month.
The London-born Scot has been selected in the 34-strong squad and will race both the elite road race and the time trial at the event, which runs from the 23rd to the 30th of September.
Alongside him in GB colours in the road race will be the Yates brothers, Adam and Simon, Hugh Carthy, Pete Kennaugh, James Knox, Ian Stannard and Connor Swift while in the time trial, Alex Dowsett is the other rider selected along with Geoghegan Hart.
The Scot, whom rides for Team Sky, is currently in the midst of racing La Vuelta, with stage 18 beginning today. Geoghegan Hart is sitting in 61st place in the general classification with his best result of the tour so far being an 18th place finish in the opening stage on day one.
Simon Yates, the current leader of La Vuelta, will have high hopes of putting in a strong performance at the World Championships and adding to the medals won by Brits in recent years including Mark Cavendish’s road race silver in 2016 and Chris Froome’s time trial bronze last year.
However, Froome will not have the chance to improve on last year’s result as he and current Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas will be absent in Innsbruck due to their recent heavy racing schedules.
In the elite women’s road race, Commonwealth Games 2018 road race bronze medalist Dani Rowe will spearhead the GB team alongside Hannah Barnes, Dani Christmas, Alice Cobb, Anna Henderson and Sophie Wright. In the time trial, Commonwealth Games time trial bronze medallist Hayley Simmonds and Alice Barnes will be GB’s representatives.
Performance director Stephen Park said: “British riders have excelled themselves on the road this season at all levels and it’s been a pleasure to watch them in action. We’ve selected a strong team to take on this year’s world championships, and there’s a lot of talent within the squad.
“I’m looking for us to carry on the momentum of this season into Innsbruck and I’m expecting to see some good performances in each race. We can then build on this in 2019 when the world championships come to Yorkshire and we can look forward to competing on our home roads.”
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