Q&A Ethan Hayter
The year 2021 was a big one for the 23-year-old Ineos Grenadiers rider, including a World Champion’s jersey on the track, a stage race victory on the road, and a second place to Wout van Aert at the Tour of Britain. Ethan Hayter tells Cyclist where he plans to go from here
Cyclist: You had some amazing results in 2021. Were you expecting it to be such a successful year?
Ethan Hayter: I didn’t expect it at all. Looking back, maybe I should have expected to be here. In 2019 I had a really good year then I broke my collarbone at [the Tour de] l’avenir and missed the Worlds. Then we had the pandemic and that put me back a couple of steps. It took me until the summer of this year to get back to where I should have been, so it was really nice to have such a good year.
Cyc: Did you have set goals for the season, or was everything a bonus?
EH: I didn’t really have any goals on the road set for me. As an athlete you can be given specific goals, but for me all the pressure just seems to come from myself anyway. If I’m nervous about a race it’s not because someone in the team has said I have to win, it’s because I want to win myself.
At the start of the year I was struggling a bit with confidence, partly because I hadn’t actually raced that much with the lockdown and on track I was struggling in the bunch. It was a mix of bad luck and confidence. You make your own luck a lot of the time, but in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, for example, I didn’t want to be too far forward at that point in the race, and then the guy in front of me crashed and I couldn’t do anything about it. Still, I felt good at the end of a one-day Classic and
I’m a sprinter and it was a small group so I could have been up there I think.
Things started to get better through the year. Plouay [Bretagne Classic] was close to a Monument in terms of distance – it was over six hours, and I felt good at the end of that race. I came fourth in a Worldtour race so that was a big confidence boost.
Then at the Worlds in September I had a couple of things I could have done better and I just missed the front group in the end. It was my attack that got counterattacked, and that was the group that went in the pre-final with Dylan van Baarle, Neilson Powless and Remco Evenepoel – so I was almost there but I just missed it, which was a bit of bad luck and a bit of a learning. I could tell something was about to go and I almost tried to play it a bit too clever. But that’s something you can learn from.
Cyc: You were up there with the best again when it came to the Tour of Britain.
EH: It’s strange to be at that level. Like in that three-up sprint on Stage 6 when it was me, Julian Alaphilippe and Wout van Aert – I crossed the line with a smile on my face. It was like, ‘Of course Van Aert’s rolled me again!’
In the sprint you have that splitsecond when you’re looking forward and you can sense yourself, you can just feel it, and then you’re slowly coming past. I knew I was going to get Alaphilippe on the line. Then Van Aert came past me. When you think about it, it’s pretty cool to be honest: two of the best riders in the world.
Cyc: At the Tour of Britain there were questions over your positioning. Do you prefer to ride near the back of the bunch?
EH: People have said I hang towards the back and sometimes I do get caught out, to be honest, but then sometimes people say actually, when it comes to crunch time, you’re right there where you need to be. I do that quite well, I think. I guess there’s a bit of killer
instinct that comes in: if I know I have to be here at this certain time when it’s make or break, I’ll just do it. Or I’ll try my best to.
Cyc: Like taking a calculated risk?
EH: Exactly. In a race some people go into position early and ride their own tempo, but if you’re clever and you have the ability to just punch, you can wait, wait, wait and make one big move late on and that’s more efficient sometimes. Although sometimes it backfires terribly.
Cyc: Have you got your eyes on any Grand Tours yet?
EH: It would be nice to try it at some stage. Already now there will be some one-week stage races where I can be pretty competitive. If there’s a timetrial and no huge mountains it should suit me pretty well. I won the Tour of Norway and I probably should have won the Volta ao Algarve if I hadn’t thrown myself off. That was a painful one, mentally and physically.
In pretty much all the races I’ve done, very rarely can you plan for what
‘I knew I was going to get Alaphilippe on the line. Then Van Aert came past me. When you think about it, it’s pretty cool to be honest’
actually happens. You know you have to make those split-second decisions, and you’ve got to have racing experience to get that feel for when to do it. Even in the big races there are so many guys that are as good as each other physically and it’s just a case of who can save a little bit more here or be able to make this one move when they have to make that front selection.
Cyc: Do you think that people underestimate you?
EH: I don’t think they do underestimate me, to be honest. I know in the peloton people wouldn’t want to take me to the line. I think everyone’s aware that everyone in the Worldtour bunch is talented, so there are no easy rides.
Cyc: Are you a perfectionist?
EH: After a race I can sometimes be quite self-critical about what I should have done better. That’s what you learn from. There are always things I could have done better. And sometimes you have to give yourself a break because you don’t have to be perfect at everything. Not many people are.
Cyc: What have you got lined up for next season?
EH: I’ve not planned it yet but probably some of the Classics again. I really like the Ardennes classics. Liège-bastogne-Liège is quite hilly and I enjoyed that when I did it. And Milan-san Remo I’ve not done yet, but that on paper could be a really good race for me with a climb and a sprint at the finish.
Cyc: If, later in life, you were to look back on what you’d call the perfect career, what would you have achieved?
EH: To win the road Worlds and wear the rainbow jersey the whole year would be pretty special. I didn’t win at the Olympics this year so that’s got to go on the list. One of the Monuments, or a couple, would be quite nice. It’s a shame because a few of them we didn’t get to experience in all the atmosphere – like we did Flanders this year and there was nobody on the Kwaremont. It was an empty field. Then the Worlds in Belgium were unbelievable with the amount of people everywhere, so to go back to one of the big races like that and win would be good.
‘I won the Tour of Norway and I probably should have won the Volta ao Algarve if I hadn’t thrown myself off. That was a painful one, mentally and physically’