The 24-year-old took the sprint at the end of the 144-kilometre stage which started and finished in Kufstein after earlier helping shut down an attack on the final climb by Vincenzo Nibali.
The Briton was narrowly able to hold off Alex Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Roland Thalmann (Vorarlberg Santic) as they rapidly gained on him in the sprint for the finish.
“It was a beautiful day and a beautiful parcours. I’m really happy to take my first professional win here in Austria,” said Tao Geoghegan Hart. “It was a headwind over the top of the climb which was a shame but it was really close the finish, but also with some riding to go over the plateau before the final kilometres.
“It was kind of a mix between committing with having two guys at the front and also always thinking about the finish.”
The five-day Tour of the Alps continues on Tuesday and after passing over to Italy concludes on Friday with a mountainous 148.7km stage to Bolzano.
.@taogeoghegan wins his 1️⃣st professional race on Stage 1 of the Tour of the Alps! pic.twitter.com/swNEtnEkBD
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) April 22, 2019
Tour of the Alps 2019 – stage 1 results (Kufstein – Kufstein):
| 1 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) | 3:30:48 |
| 2 | Alex Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 3 | Roland Thalmann (Vorarlberg Santic) | ,, |
| 4 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | ,, |
| 5 | Nikita Stalnov (Astana) | ,, |
| 6 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 7 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Gazprom–Rusvelo) | ,, |
| 8 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 9 | Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) | ,, |
| 10 | Dayer Quintana (Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM) | ,, |
