Ruta del Sol – Stage 2

Ethan Hayter continued his superb run of form with another emphatic stage victory, this time on stage two at Ruta del Sol and now leads overall

Ruta del Sol – Stage 2

Ethan Hayter continued his superb run of form with another emphatic stage victory, this time on stage two at Ruta del Sol and now leads overall. The day ended on the brutal ramps of the Alcala la Real climb, with Hayter able to measure his efforts well to edge clear of his rivals on the eye-watering, cobbled gradients.

The young Brit crossed the line eight seconds ahead of Miguel Angel Lopez (Movistar) and moved into a 11-second race lead. Carlos Rodriguez had pushed clear over the previous climb and headed into the closing kilometres as part of a 10-man group. The Spaniard was able to hang tough to finish fourth over the line, elevating himself to sixth overall at 21 seconds with three days to go.

Ethan Hayter: “I didn’t attack or anything. Everyone was just going so hard. It was so steep on the cobbles. I was in a good position – we had Carlos at the front after the longer climb – so I just followed and I kind of just made sure I had position, as I knew it would be hard to follow on the cobbles. And everyone else around me just blew up I think. I blew up as well, but I had a gap so I had the motivation to hang on! The climb was borderline crazy but I guess that’s bike racing sometimes. I guess we put on a show.

“Today was probably the hardest finish I think. There’s more climbing tomorrow so we’ll see what happens (with the GC). I don’t know what the gap is but I got three seconds yesterday on some people. I could just about get myself across the line, let alone see where everyone else was.”
Overall standings: