Ethan's Profile

Yet another young British rider to graduate from the British Cycling Team track programme to a career as a promising road racer, Hayter was selected for the Tokyo Olympics as part of the men’s endurance squad.

By that stage, the Londoner had also signed a professional contract with leading UCI WorldTour team Ineos Grenadiers, where he is a team-mate of fellow Tokyo Olympians Teo Geoghegan Hart, Tom Pidcock, Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates.

Hayter first tasted track riding at the legendary Herne Hill velodrome in his home city, at the age of 13 and raced for the famous VC Londres cycling club, where he remains an honorary member. But his talent led to a spot on the Great Britain Cycling Team’s Senior Academy squad in 2016 and, before he turned 20, Hayter was already a world and European champion on the track.

Hayter had already shown his potential in international team pursuit at youth levels; winning bronze in the UCI Junior World Track Championships in Switzerland in 2016; and golds at the UEC Junior World Track Championships in Italy that year and at the Euros 12 months later in Portugal. On each occasion, he was joined in the successful GB team pursuit squad by Matt Walls, who will be his team-mate in Tokyo.

By 2018, Hayter was poised to make his mark at elite level on the international track stage, taking gold in the team pursuit at the UCI World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, with Ed Clancy, Charlie Tanfield and Kian Emadi. Two months later, in April, he represented England in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, picking up a silver medal, to the host Australians, in the team pursuit and adding a bronze medal in the points race.

Over the summer of 2018, Hayter enjoyed productive performances at the UEC European Track Championships and, also, in the under-23 version.

At the elite championships in Glasgow, he was crowned European champion in the omnium after a thrilling victory over Italian legend, and Olympic champion, Elia Viviani. Hayter also picked up bronzes in the team pursuit and Madison, where he partnered Ollie Wood.

At the under-23 championships in Aigle, Switzerland, he became a double gold medallist, winning the omnium and the Madison, where he partnered Walls.

The 2019 season also opened with medals - at the highest level, the World Track Cycling Championships in Pruszkow, Poland.

Hayter teamed with Clancy, Wood and Tanfield for a silver in the team pursuit before winning a bronze in the omnium, missing out on a silver by only one point to Frenchman Benjamin Thomas.

The turn of the year saw Hayter in action in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup series where he formed a strong Madison team with Walls, winning silvers in the Glasgow and Milton, Canada, races of the 2019-20 season.

Hayter’s track development, and some promising road performances such as victory in the 2016 junior version of the one-day Kuurne-Brussel-Kurne, had alerted professional teams to his abilities and, after finishing the OVO Energy Tour of Britain as part of a GB team in 2017, he was signed as a trainee by Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers) the following year.

Despite his track commitments in 2018, Hayter again finished the Tour of Britain, coming second in the points classification, while 2019 saw him win stages of the A Travers les Hauts de France and Tour de l’Avenir stage races, while also winning the overall general classification in the former.

With racing disrupted in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hayter still found time late in the year to record his best victory to date, winning the 191.5km “semi-classic” Giro dell’Appennino in Genoa, Italy.

The delayed Olympic year opened with Hayter again building towards Tokyo but racing an exciting road campaign with Ineos Grenadiers which saw him win stages of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in March then, in May, a stage of the Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta, followed by two stages, and the points classification, at the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol.

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