“It’s nice to be back in orange” – Ethan Hayter regains GC lead at Tour of Holland 2025 with powerful stage 2 TT win

Ethan Hayter delivered a perfectly-paced ride to win the stage 2 time trial at the 2025 Tour of Holland and reclaim the overall lead, defeating Jacob Soderqvist on a wet and technical course around Etten-Leur.

The Briton, who also won the opening prologue earlier in the week, finished two seconds ahead of Soderqvist and 15 seconds clear of Christophe Laporte to take his second victory of the race and pull on the orange jersey once again.

“It was really tough,” Hayter admitted afterwards. “There were a lot of wet leaves on the road during recon and again in the race, so it was pretty tricky and heavy going. Luckily, by the time I started it was almost dry, which helped a bit in the end.”

The 27-year-old from Soudal - Quick-Step had trailed Soderqvist at the intermediate checkpoint but came back strongly in the final sector — a product, he said, of careful pacing. “It was hard, but I paced it well,” he explained. “I saved just enough energy for the last section to take the time back.”

Hayter’s victory not only underlined his consistency in short time trials this season — following previous wins in Luxembourg and the Baloise Belgium Tour — but also marked the 51st success of the year the Soudal - Quick-Step team. Despite that, he insisted there would be no complacency heading into the remaining stages. “It’s nice to be back in orange tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll see what the next few days bring.”

The Londoner also admitted he hadn’t yet studied the upcoming terrain. “Races at the end of the season, I just take them day by day. I’ll check what tomorrow’s course looks like later,” he smiled.

With teammate Tim Merlier also claiming a stage earlier in the week, The Wolfpack have already left a strong mark on the Dutch race — and with Hayter back in command of the general classification, they look well placed to carry that dominance into the final days.