Published June 25, 2021 03:59PM
2020 Giro d’Italia champ Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) said on Friday via social media that his initiative to fund a spot on the Axeon Hagens Berman team in an effort to increase diversity in cycling is now taking applications.
The 26-year-old Brit, who spent three years with the development team, announced in February that he would sponsor a place on the Axeon Hagens Berman roster in what he hoped would be “the beginning of a joint effort to increase racial diversity within the amazing sport of cycling.”
“Cycling has a problem with diversity and inclusivity,” Geoghegan Hart wrote at the time. “This is a fact. It is not unique within sport, but we must face it head on all the same.”
The US-based Axeon Hagens Berman squad, run by Axel Merckx, has long been one of the sport’s premier development teams, and currently races at the Continental level. Alongside Geoghegan Hart, other alumni include João Almeida, Ruben Guerreiro, Jasper Stuyven, and Jasper Philipsen.
With his Tour de France debut looming, Geoghegan Hart said on Friday that he and Mercx have opened applications for the spot, which he noted is “aimed toward the progression of diversity and inclusivity within the amazing sport of Cycling.”