Tao Geoghegan Hart will not ride the Tour de France after crashing at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and then contracting Covid.
The Lidl-Trek rider was set to co-lead his team at the Tour, a goal he had been working all season towards, but fractured a rib in the Dauphiné crash earlier in June, and has since suffered from illness.
Stage five of the Dauphiné was neutralised following a mass crash, which took down many key riders, but it was not known until now that Geoghegan Hart had broken a bone. To then contract Covid was a bonus which has kept him off his bike.
"The Brit has being sidelined for longer than initially expected after the Critérium du Dauphiné due to illness and injuries sustained, including a fractured rib, in the crash on Stage 5," a Lidl-Trek statement on Friday read.
"Wishing Tao all the best for a good recovery. The Team can’t wait to see him back racing at 100 percent as soon as he is ready."
Geoghegan Hart announced the news of his Covid positive on Instagram on Thursday.
"One of the questions journalists always ask is what we miss when travelling on the road," he wrote. "I guess they think it’ll make the oddities of sitting atop a mountain or racing across an entire country seem a little more relatable to their reader. I always say I miss buying fresh groceries and cooking. Even the simple decision of actually choosing what to have for lunch and dinner.
"This week has seen plenty of time for that, with zero bike riding and five days of Covid positive. I thought those days were long gone but unfortunately I’ve been super sick. Take care everyone. And make sure you eat all the colours of the rainbow."
The Londoner joined Lidl-Trek at the beginning of 2024 with the Tour de France as his big goal; he was set to lead a team at the Grand Tour for the first time, alongside Mads Pedersen.
The 29-year-old won the Giro d'Italia in 2020, and after a quiet couple of years, he looked back at his best in 2023, winning the Tour of the Alps, and coming third at Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
He looked good and was riding high on general classification at the Giro d'Italia last year before he fractured his hip in a crash; his then teammate Geraint Thomas would go onto finish second.
Geoghegan Hart returned to racing this year, with the highlight being a top ten overall at the Tour de Romandie in late April.
Lidl-Trek will announce their Tour de France team in the coming days.
