“Unfinished business” – Ethan Hayter set for Vuelta a Espana for Soudal – Quick-Step

Ethan Hayter’s first season at Soudal – Quick-Step has been something of a bumpy road. The 26-year-old British rider, crowned national road race champion in 2024 and a three-time national time trial champion, is set to make his return to Grand Tour racing at the 2025 Vuelta a España later this month. It will be his second three-week race of 2025 after the Giro d’Italia earlier this year ended in disappointment.

The Giro was a setback for Hayter, who battled stomach-related illness and left the race unable to show the form that had brought him early-season results. Since then, he has been working to rebuild, using the Tour de Pologne this week as a stepping stone towards the Vuelta.

"I'm not great here, to be honest, compared to what I expected," he told Cycling News. "But I'm working through it. I'm not quite feeling myself, a bit slow and heavy. It's a bit of a shame, I wanted to stay a bit closer to GC and see what I could do there, maybe."

Hayter acknowledged the challenge of finding form after a long gap from racing. "It's been five weeks since my last race, so hopefully I'll be getting better as time goes on." He added that while nothing is guaranteed, the Vuelta is firmly in his plans. "I think I'm doing it, although until you're on the plane, you never know for sure."

Hayter’s only previous Grand Tour experience came with INEOS Grenadiers, the team he left at the end of 2024 to join Quick-Step. That Giro debut earlier this year, illness aside, gave him a valuable reference point for three-week racing. "I only did that one Grand Tour with Ineos, so two is going to be a bit of an unknown, but I came out of the Giro quite good," he explained.

His national titles, both on the road and against the clock, prove his versatility, and he showed flashes of that form earlier in the season. "I did OK in Belgium and Nationals, so I want to get back to how I was there, feeling sharper in the races," he said.

The Vuelta will offer Hayter the opportunity to test himself again over three weeks, this time with a clearer sense of what to expect. With a mix of sprint stages, time trials, and testing climbs, the race could play to his all-round capabilities, provided he can recover the sharpness he had earlier in the year.

"Hopefully, I can improve there [in the Vuelta]. There's a bit of unfinished business there for sure," he said, hinting at his determination to turn the season around.