Walking down Regent Street in central London on Tuesday, Tao Geoghegan Hart walked up to the front of a 2,000-square-meter Pinarello-owned store, thinking he would be doing a Q&A for his Ineos Grenadiers. Stopping in front of the store's entrance to take a picture, he failed to notice what a passing shopper saw in the show window.

The recently crowned Giro d'Italia champion, wearing a mask over his face, casually entered the store and was greeted by a Pinarello representative who said, "Welcome. Welcome. We have something for you to see."

A video of Geoghegan Hart receiving his custom bike was posted on the social media channels of Ineos Grenadiers, capturing the 25-year-old Briton's genuine surprise.

"Oh, wow. Nice surprise, isn't it?" laughed Geoghan Hart, pointing to a pink bike in the showroom. 'It's the question I've been asked the most this week. The public cares more about this [bike] than anything else. Yeah, it's a mega."

The pink Pinarello had his 165 race number on the seatpost and a personal message on the frame that read "Grazie Tao!" by Fausto Pinarello, chairman of the premium road bike brand named after his family. His company has been supplying road bikes to the Ineos team since 2009, when it was Team Sky.

"Thanks for the surprise today, Fausto. I didn't know anything about it. Really cool, super," he said to Pinarello over the speakerphone.

"Now I have a reason to ride my bike again. I haven't ridden a bike since Milan. So I have a good excuse."

On the final day of the Giro, Geoghegan Hart was the GC leader with Team Sunweb's Jai Hindley. The Ineos rider won his first Grand Tour title in Milan by 39 seconds over Hindley in the final time trial.

"I had no idea this was going to happen. It's fantastic. Especially now I'm chatting with Fausto over there. Two weeks have passed and it feels like a long time ago. It's so nice to come home and hear everyone say how much they enjoyed the race, how exciting and fun it was, and how they were watching every minute of the last three stages."

[17 [For me, this means a lot, and this is what cycling should be about. This is an extension of that. It's great to be in London, in an Italian store, getting an Italian bike. The sky is blue and the bikes look great in the light. It's very cool."

Just before entering the store, Geoghegan Hart revealed that with just a few days left in the Giro, he did not expect to win the race. In fact, at the end of stage 17, he was in fourth place, 2:59 behind race leader Joao Almeida (Detunink-Quick Step).

"Did you hear about the bet I made with my own brother? I sacrificed my car to win the Giro. On stage 15, I bet him that there was no way I could win. If I win, I'll buy you a new car. I'll buy you a new car.

I don't know how the bet was fulfilled, and I hope the new bike wasn't part of the deal.

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