ETHAN HAYTER

Ineos’s young British track and road talent on his Playstation habit and winning a toy donkey

Where’s home? I’m from London but I’m living in Manchester at the moment. Near Crystal Palace is where my family are. What’s your favourite race?

I’m not sure. Certain races I’ve done so far have been a bit strange with no crowds. Like Flanders, it’s supposed to be a big spectacle but it was weird with nobody there at all. It just felt a bit strange. It did still feel big though, because everyone knew it was Flanders. Where in the world would you like to get lost on your bike?

The Algarve was pretty nice when I did that. Portugal is fresh in my mind, so I’ll say there. What’s the best prize you’ve ever won at a race?

When I won the junior version of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, I got a donkey from that. Not a real donkey, a toy donkey. There are some weird prizes out there. Last year, I won a baby seat to put on the back of my bike at one of the Algarve stages. If you had one extra hour in the day what would you do?

Probably something not very productive, to be honest. When I’m in Manchester, I play quite a lot of Call of Duty on the Playstation with my mates. It started in lockdown last year and now it’s pretty much every day. What’s the last app you downloaded?

I downloaded the riders’ union’s new app, which is pretty exciting. When were you last star struck?

I’d say possibly when I moved from the [British Cycling] track academy “There are some weird prizes out there. I won a baby seat to put on the back of my bike at one of the Algarve stages” to riding with Ed Clancy and Steven Burke in the podium team, because they were multiple Olympic champions and all of a sudden you’re riding behind them in the team pursuit. What advice would you give your teenage self?

It’s interesting actually, because my brother is not too different from me and he’s a few years younger. I’d say just keep plugging away. There are always sh*t times and good times, aren’t there? What’s your best cycling hack?

Just keep eating and drinking. It’s what a lot of people forget.

Especially when you’re going hard, it’s easy to miss. I do sometimes, too. I change what I take with me quite a lot, it depends what’s on offer in Tesco. Stroopwaffels are always good, and Decathlon have just started doing these date bars. Obviously Science in Sport too, plenty of their stuff, always. What’s been your toughest day on the bike?

When I was a U23 we had just done the Track Euros, and we went to the Tour of Alsace, which is a really hilly race in France. On the third day we did 4,500m of climbing, and we were all unfit and not ready for it. I was the only finisher from the team and I finished 45 minutes down, I only just made the time cut. I was in a group of four all day, and two of the guys did not make the time limit. That was mentally and physically the hardest.