For some of the top riders, after their first victory in nearly three years, there is a feeling of near relief that the long gap from victory to victory is finally over. But after Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) crossed the finish line with his hands raised at the summit of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 4, his view of his first victory since the 2020 Giro d'Italia overall was markedly different.

"No, I don't think so," he told a small group of journalists behind Valenciana's victory podium.

"Like I said before, it's a really difficult sport to succeed in, so I'm really happy to reward my teammates. They did a great job in the second stage. It just didn't work out for me," Geoghegan Hart said, referring to the first summit finish in Valenciana two days earlier, when an irregular sprint relegated him from second to last place.

"I might have had a little more confidence. But Rome is not built in a day, and it's important to build momentum and take it one day at a time, just as we did last year.

"It was a big misfortune like the crash in the first week of the 2022 Vuelta a España, just when we thought we were getting back on track.

Despite the time bonus for his stage 4 win, which brought him within 4 seconds of race leader Julio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), he refused to reveal any thoughts of challenging for the overall, saying he was now focused on enjoying what he had achieved on stage 4. And he arrived at this stage without having suffered any accidents in winter training.

Winning in a season like 2023, when his contract is up for renewal, might be seen as an added value. But Geoghegan again disagreed with the reporter who called the contract season a "big year," saying, "It's always a big season in cycling.

"Every season I've had in my career has been a big season. I love training and I love the sport of cycling. Whether it's a contract year or not, if I've trained harder the last two years than I have this winter, it makes no difference to me how much time I spend training or what I do. It doesn't make any difference. It's just about staying healthy and staying upright, which is easier said than done."

Back here now, the British rider simply said of his sixth career win and first outside of Italy: "It's really hard to win in cycling. It is really hard to win in cycling. It's not a World Tour race here, but in my opinion the level is really high, as it has been at the start of the last couple of seasons.

"You have to be thankful for every little thing, and the illnesses and falls I've had in the last few years have reminded me of that even more. I'm a little disappointed this morning because my brother told me to 'have a nice celebration.

"The other day [stage 2] was weird, I've never been in a situation like that in my 10-year career." Today I was able to put in a good performance to control what I could control."

Geoghegan Hart also took the opportunity of his back-to-back wins to say, "I want to send a lot of love to my friends and family who know how unlucky I've been and how difficult things have been for me over the last few years. I'm really happy."

In 2020, just before the pandemic broke out, Geoghegan Hart, who had already finished third in the Valencia Volta and was at the start of his most successful season to date, did not specify his race program. Instead, when asked, he reiterated that he was "happy and grateful to have had a truly uninterrupted winter and three months of consistent training."

"I know that if I have good blocks, I will be in better condition. In the last couple of years, every time I've gotten to where I wanted to be, I've had a couple of setbacks.

But in Valenciana, at least and finally, for Geohegan Hart, those setbacks can be forgotten.