Ethan Hayter transfer: Hit or miss? | Did move away from INEOS aid British champion?

Turned pro with INEOS Grenadiers and was one of its brightest talents for years. But Ethan Hayter is a very particular rider, and his skillset has evolved greatly over the past few years. His move to Soudal - Quick-Step was motivated by a bad ending with INEOS management, and with an improvement when it came to his time trialing ability.

This January, after putting on the colours of Quick-Step, Hayter wasn't afraid to say what went wrong with the British team: "If you run a cycling team like a company, the riders and staff lose their passion. That was the case with Ineos in recent years. Racing felt more and more like a job". He began his career as a sprinter and puncheur, who could mix the two - whilst of course, having a bone for time trialing. Tom Pidcock also left the team, as did other staff members and the criticism was a pattern on the departing riders.

In 2021 he achieved multiple wins and top results, and his 2021 Tour of Britain battles with peak form Julian Alaphilippe and Wout van Aert ahead of the World Championships were memorable. In 2022 he continued to win several races and also won the Tour de Pologne, confirming his ability as a stage-racer capable of winning even at World Tour level. But crashes and positioning fears took over him, and he stopped being a rider able to contest sprints whilst the classics also became hard to target. In 2024 he won the British national championships, but all year long he struggled to get results, and his new jersey wasn't enough to convince either INEOS to invest enough or Hayter to stay. He moved to Soudal - Quick-Step on a two-year deal.

But the transfer wasn't met with a lot of success, with only one Top10 result before the month of April, which was in Itzulia Basque Country's time trial. At the Giro d'Italia he rode the entire race with freedom and was there or thereabouts in the time trial but completely absent in the rest of the race, finishing in the Top100 only on three occasions and entering only one breakaway - on a high mountain stage where he stood no chance. A striking lack of results that only changed after the Giro.

Hayter came out of the Giro much stronger and then went on to beat none other than Filippo Ganna in the time trial at the Baloise Belgium Tour. A very surprising result, but a completely earned one, as the two were head and shoulders above the competition. The Briton then went on to take the British national championship title against the clock.

This discipline is truly what saved his season, as Hayter seemed to lack the performance elsewhere, but constantly being amongst the best here - almost as if he has become a pure time trialist this year. He won the ITT at the Tour de Luxembourg but then couldn't hold his own in the GC as he would've in other years; he finished fourth in the European Championships and then won both prologue and time trial at the Tour of Holland late in the year. The GC was actually quite a realistic goal, but his season ended with a DNF after a crash on the queen stage.

So Hayter's season is odd, but successful. He is not the same rider anymore, no longer a sprinter or puncheur it seems, but has adapted and evolved significantly to a new phase in his career. He's become Quick-Step's new top time trialist now than Remco Evenepoel is leaving the team.