Following Richard Karapas' second place at the Giro d'Italia and Geraint Thomas' third place at the Tour de France, Ineos Grenadiers will again be aiming for the Grand Tour podium and possibly the missing step at the Vuelta a España.

However, as in the Tour, where Ineos Grenadiers will be looking not only for overall victory but also for a stage win, the Vuelta will not only support the team leader's GC battle, but also allow the other riders on the British team to explore their own goals.

Or, as Tao Geoghegan Hart, who will take on his first Grand Tour of the season in the Vuelta, said at the pre-race press conference, "We definitely have some good cards up our sleeve."

That, of course, is beyond what the 2020 Giro d'Italia winner can contribute, as the team has tapped Spanish national champion Carlos Rodriguez and recent Vuelta a Burgos winner Pavel Sivakov. Geoghegan Hart shares that collective philosophy.

"The best races I've been in are always when every rider plays an important role in the team. And we have an exciting team here, looking forward to making the most of the last Grand Tour of the year."

"Everyone is in different places, but we definitely have some good cards to play."

"Our biggest favorites are out of the team, but we also have a really strong team.

The Vuelta is not exactly Plan B for the Brits, but Geoghan Hart, who contracted three viruses in two months after Iturria-Basque, was in no shape to return to the Giro d'Italia this May, less than two years after his victory there . It's unrealistic," he said once and for all on Wednesday.

His plans for a good showing in a low-profile event in top conditions in early summer were also derailed by a stomach bug, but he did well to finish fifth in Norway and eighth in the Criterium du Dauphiné.

But it was hard to ignore the fact that the rider he beat in the 2020 Giro d'Italia, Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), finally broke the pink back on the final day of racing in Italy. Geoghegan Hart also found himself in the somewhat contradictory position of being disappointed that Ineos Grenadiers lost to the Australian this past May, but also pleased with Hindley's victory.

"Of course it was a disappointing result for the team, but I was really happy for Jai to win. From what I saw on TV, he ran a great race," Geoghegan Hart said, while admitting that he, too, did not rule out the possibility of further GC in the future. [2020, and I've grown through the race with Jai. Last year's Tour was pretty complicated," the British racer said, then noted how his back injury from the crash had taken its toll on him and how there had not been a problem-free Grand Tour since the 2020 Giro.

On the positive side of the Vuelta, Geoghegan Hart said, "I believed I would be in good shape for the second half of the race.

"But obviously, there are tricky distances coming up in the second half of the race. We have to get through the tricky days, do well in the TTT, and then take it one day at a time from there. It's boring, but that's the reality of the Grand Tour."

Geoghegan Hart in the Vuelta is not looking to write off a difficult start to 2022, but rather, as he puts it, "to race every day."

"Even in the spring, with one thing after another, I trained well until I got super duper sick a week before Norway. But after the Dauphiné, when I think about the weeks and months leading up to it, I'm proud of myself for being able to come out on top in Norway and in the Dauphiné.

"It wasn't necessarily what I was looking for in terms of getting results, but when you accept the situation and try to make the most of it, if you feel like you're improving yourself and moving in the right direction, that's good. So I was very happy to be there every day."

As for the Vuelta, he insists: "It's about getting into the race and seeing what happens. So I'm not looking forward to next year yet. After the Vuelta, I want to race some more and make the most of it.