"I don't know what's really going on to be honest" - Departing INEOS Grenadiers rider confused by team's chaotic situation

Ethan Hayter won the road race national championships in Great Britain, but had a largely absent year. He is leaving INEOS Grenadiers this season and at the Track World Championships where he is currently competing, the Briton admits that there is something wrong in the team and he doesn't quite understand it.

At least that's how it phrases it, as naturally he would not be openly criticizing the team where he has raced throughout his whole career, which started in 2020. The Briton has proved to be an extremely versatile rider, winning sprints, time-trials, hilly races and even World Tour stage-races. However 2023 and mainly 2024 were two much more complicated years where the results simply were not as good. Hayter and INEOS are splitting at the end of this season.

"I don't know what's really going on to be honest, I've had a tricky year working with them and once I was leaving it was even trickier," he said in an interview with Eurosport. The team continues to have a very high budget, but over the past year it has lost several strong leaders in several terrains and has not been able to replace them. This year Tom Pidcock may leave despite having three years remaining of contract, and his non-selection from Il Lombardia (decided by team management, with no reason given) was a chaotic situation that seemed to harm anyone involved.

"Yeah I don't know, I wish them all the best next year but they could do with a couple changes" is how Hayter puts it. This is widely agreed on social media, many of which look down upon the team's decisions over the past few years. However there is the possibility of an important change now, as after 15 years of existence the British team seems to be on the way to finally partner with a development team - something rival teams have implemented years ago and have greatly benefitted from it.

Hayter is joining Soudal - Quick-Step next year where he should be focusing on the same kind of races, but could benefit from new motivation. "Time for a change. Yeah it's exciting, the team really has passion for racing and I'm excited to get started," he concluded.