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British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart has surged into pink jersey contention at the Giro d’Italia after taking by far the biggest win of his career on stage 15 to Piancavallo in the Italian Dolomites. The Londoner shot from 11th overall to fourth, fewer than three minutes off the lead, after winning a three-up sprint on the toughest climbing stage of the race so far. Geoghegan Hart, 25, is now just one second off the podium and just 2min57sec behind long-time leader Joao Almeida [Deceuninck-QuickStep], who showed the first cracks in his armour after being distanced on the final climb of the day. Geoghegan Hart did his best to play down expectations in the aftermath of his victory, which he dedicated to Ineos Grenadiers’ sporting director Nicolas Portal, who died suddenly in the spring. But it is difficult not to wonder how much further the 25 year-old, who replaced Geraint Thomas as Ineos leader after the Welshman’s crash on stage three, could rise. Almeida looks suddenly very vulnerable. The 22 year-old, who is racing in his first grand tour, has been in pink for 12 days already, far longer than anyone anticipated. But the Portuguese was unable to stay with Wilco Kelderman and Jai Hindley when the Sunweb duo attacked on the final climb to Piancavallo. And with the biggest climbs of the race still to come - including the Stelvio Pass and the Colle dell'Agnello and Col d’Izoard, all well over 2000m - any weakness going forward is likely to be ruthlessly exposed. Kelderman looks the most likely to profit should Almeida falter. The Dutchman, 29, is only 15 seconds off the lead and has the most grand tour experience of the leading contenders with three top-10 finishes at the Vuelta a Espana and one previous top-10 at the Giro. But Geoghegan Hart has long been tipped as a future GC star and the fact he was handed team leadership at both the Giro and the Vuelta last year shows in what esteem Sir Dave Brailsford holds him.
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