Tao Geoghegan Hart is to ride for Lidl-Trek from 2024, leaving Ineos Grenadiers after seven years with the British team.
The long-rumoured transfer was confirmed by his new squad on Thursday morning, which sees the Londoner join Lidl-Trek on a three-year contract.
The 28-year-old is currently out of action with a fractured hip which he suffered during the Giro d'Italia while he was riding high on general classification.
He joined then Team Sky in 2017 from Axeon Hagens Berman, netting his first win at the Tour of the Alps in 2019.
Geoghegan Hart won the Giro in 2020, pipping Jai Hindley to the maglia rosa. 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.
According to the Trek press release, he has been undergoing "intensive rehabilitation" at a clinic in Amsterdam to "regain his strength and mobility day by day".
Geoghegan Hart said he was "looking forward to this new chapter", and that he still has "plenty of growth as an athlete" to come.
"After seven years within the same organisation there are many different emotions to approaching a new challenge in 2024," he said in the Lidl-Trek statement. "However, knowing plenty of faces within the Lidl-Trek organisation already, and having had conversations with Luca [Guercilena], Josu [Larrazabal] and Elke [Weylandt] in the past weeks, I am really looking forward to this new chapter in my career come 2024.
"A new challenge is definitely exciting, to encounter different perspectives, athletes and cultures. That is one of my favourite things about cycling; the exploring and learning that we constantly encounter as athletes.
"With Lidl coming onboard as a new partner of the team, alongside Trek, who have owned the team for a long time now, it felt like a project I really wanted to be a part of at this moment in my career."
"The team has big goals and partners who are willing and able to support those ambitions," he continued. "I believe I still have plenty of growth as an athlete and showed in 2023, up until the injury, what I can do as a leader. I’m incredibly motivated to get back to that feeling and place, and I believe that Lidl-Trek will be a brilliant place for me to do so."
Luca Guercilena, Lidl-Trek's general manager, said: "Tao Geoghegan Hart’s dedication and resilience epitomize the spirit of Lidl-Trek. His journey serves as a testament to the power of determination, and we are excited to welcome him to our team. As Tao embarks on this new adventure, we stand united in our commitment to pushing boundaries, achieving greatness, and creating a legacy of excellence.”
Geoghegan Hart is the second Giro stage winner to sign for Lidl-Trek this week, joining Jonathan Milan. Quinn Simmons, Daan Hoole, Edward Theuns, Alex Kirsch and Otto Vergaerde have all signed contract extensions too.
