The 26-year-old Londoner is again time trial champion, after three years.
Ethan Hayter confirmed both the good form that saw him take a stage win and finish runner-up at last week’s Tour of Belgium and his prowess against the clock, capturing the third title of his career in the individual time trial race.
The 41km-long parcours between Ffos-y-ffin and Aberaeron was a hilly one, featuring a couple of short but steep climbs, where the difference could be made. Buoyed by his recent results in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey, Hayter rode a perfect race on this tough route, concluding the day in just over 54 minutes. His margin over Samuel Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) and Oliver Knight (Cofidis), the two riders that rounded out the podium, was a comfortable one, thanks to an impressive average speed of almost 45.5km/h.
“It was a really hard course. I went very first in the first lap and gained some time, but then I began suffering in the second part of the race. Luckily, I managed to recover a bit and hold on. It feels great to win another race for the team and now I can’t wait to showcase this beautiful jersey in the next twelve months”, a happy Ethan said. “I look forward to Sunday’s road race now. The parcours is to my liking, but the nationals are always a lottery and you never know how things can go. I’m here without teammates, but I will give my best and see what I can do.”
Hayter’s victory was Soudal Quick-Step’s fourth medal of the day, following the ones brought by Mattia Cattaneo (bronze), Josef Cerny (silver) – who racked up his seventh podium at the Nationals – and Martin Svrcek (bronze), who took his first top-three finish of the year.
Photo credit: ©SWpix
