Win for Ethan Hayter in Algarve

Tour of Algarve stage 2 where Britain’s 22 year old Ethan Hayter was the big winner. The talented Londoner won the queen stage with panache, arriving at Alto da Fóia well clear of his nearest rival which put him into the yellow leader’s jersey.

Win for Ethan Hayter in Algarve
Tour of Algarve stage 2 where Britain’s 22 year old Ethan Hayter was the big winner. The talented Londoner won the queen stage with panache, arriving at Alto da Fóia well clear of his nearest rival which put him into the yellow leader’s jersey.

Hayter was part of a three-pronged Ineos offensive on the Alto da Foia summit finish, perfectly timing his sprint following selfless work from Ivan Sosa and Sebastian Henao to setup the decisive move. Sosa and Henao had escaped from a dwindling peloton in the closing kilometres to form a small escape group, before Hayter joined them from the chasing pack.

The three Ineos riders made their numerical advantage count as Sosa and Henao took turns in pushing the pace before Hayter was able to time his final sprint to perfection to take his third professional win and move into the race lead. The 22-year-old rider, who excelled as a track cyclist, showed he can climb well too and went into the stage wanting to limit his losses on the final climb. “That was the goal at the start of the stage” says Ethan. “The fact that I’m winning here now is really unbelievable and surprising. I felt good on the climb and I especially wanted to save as much energy as possible by staying in the wheels.”

“I won in Coppi e Bartali a few weeks ago, so knew I was going well. My aim today was to limit my losses, but to win was really special. I owe it to the team who were in the perfect position all day, and Sosa and Seb made the difference on the last climb. It was perfect for me as it was a headwind most of the way and I felt good following in the wheels. I was trying to hide in the wheels for a bit, then Sosa and Seb both followed an attack and they were away with four guys. I looked and everyone around me was done and I’d just been following, so I actually jumped across to [Seb and Ivan] myself and it was full gas.”

The next stage is expected to be a sprinters or breakaway stage ahead of a 20km time trial on stage 4 before a final stage with a summit finish again. Hayter normally has a good time trial in his legs and is therefore looking forward to Saturday’s TT test. “I am looking forward to it. Today the goal was to limit the damage, but now I know I am in great shape. I’d really like to do a good time trial. It was actually what I was looking forward to with my plan was to limit my losses on the climbs and do a good time trial and see where that left me, but it couldn’t have gone better today.”