Another disappointment for Tao Geoghegan Hart, who will have to postpone his return to the Tour de France once again. The 30-year-old British Lidl-Trek rider was stopped by a chest infection during the recent Tour de Suisse, thus compromising his participation in the Grande Boucle.

Geoghegan Hart last appeared at the Tour in 2021, when he made his debut in the French race. His 2025 season has so far been plagued by health issues: after an illness forced him to withdraw from the Volta a Catalunya in March, he seemed to have regained his form with a third-place finish at the Tour of Slovenia, before illness struck again in Switzerland.

The runner's words

'I've really enjoyed the first few days of the Tour de Suisse, finally getting back into a WorldTour peloton this year,' Geoghegan Hart wrote on Instagram. 'Unfortunately I've been ill for the last five days with a minor chest infection and have been feeling progressively worse towards the end of the week.'

For the 2020 Giro d'Italia winner, now in his second season with Lidl-Trek, it seems impossible to escape the curse of the Tour: in 2022 he missed the race due to illness, in 2023 due to a hip fracture at the Giro d'Italia, and in 2024 due to a broken rib at the Criterium du Dauphiné combined with Covid-19.

The focus now shifts to the end of the season, with a possible participation in the Vuelta a España as the only chance to ride a Grand Tour in 2025. To see Geoghegan Hart again at the Tour de France we will probably have to wait until 2026.