'There were a few things going on' – Ethan Hayter won five time trials in 2025 but a nutrition problem disrupted his road racing

Ethan Hayter gained 5 time trials in 2025 and went near total victory within the Tour of Belgium. From the surface, his first season at Soudal-QuickStep appeared like successful, and the likeable, quiet-speaking British rider appeared on the way in which again to the nice kind he confirmed early in his profession at Ineos Grenadiers.

Nevertheless, outcomes and social media reveal little of the complexities and ache of WorldTour racing.

“Possibly there’s much more happening in bike races than folks understand,” Hayter advised Cyclingnews and Biking Weekly on the latest Soudal-QuickStep coaching camp in Spain.

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“I simply struggled a bit in 2025 to be trustworthy, with just a few issues,” Hayter defined, regularly revealing extra.

“The staff was nice, however I had a tough begin, and it took me a short time to settle in, getting used to being on one other staff. I’ve by no means had an actual job, however in the event you change jobs, it most likely takes a little bit of time to settle in with new folks. I assume I actually wished to show myself a bit to the staff, however I overdid it and bought sick a few occasions.

“Then I bought COVID-19 on the Tour de Pologne. I completed the season fairly effectively, however I simply had the sensation that I wasn’t tremendous glad; it was an up-and-down season.”

Hayter is a vastly proficient rider however has struggled to persistently compete at his finest through the years. After skirting round the reason for his 2025 issues for ten minutes of our interview, he revealed a particular dietary downside that affected him considerably.

“I wasn’t actually performing bodily anyplace close to the place I might be, to be trustworthy. There have been just a few issues happening,” he stated, slowly opening up about his downside.

“I struggled with altering diet manufacturers. Diet is sort of private, is not it? For 90% of the blokes, altering is okay, however then there’s all the time one or two who’ve issues.”

Soudal-QuickStep works with Belgian model 6d Sports activities Diet, with the staff’s success indicating most riders carry out effectively utilizing their drinks, gels and bars. Hayter sees it as his downside and is working with 6d Sports activities Diet to resolve his issues.

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“Diet is sort of particular person, and it took me some time to sort of discover what labored for me,” he defined.

“I used to be simply getting actually bloated from sure merchandise, and I believe I simply wasn’t digesting it correctly. I would do a protracted race, and once I’d usually been fairly good, I used to be simply getting dropped.

“Possibly my weight administration was a bit off since you’re fairly finely tuned with this stuff. When you’re then not processing stuff correctly, you get bloated, you may have abdomen points. You then attempt to eat extra different occasions to compensate and it is laborious to handle that effectively.

“We have been engaged on it over the winter and hopefully I will be higher this yr, fingers crossed.”

Hayter’s issues affected him in lengthy races however not for brief efforts similar to time trials. His time trial skills and dialled-in place on Soudal-QuickStep’s Specialised bike helped win 5 completely different time trials throughout 2025, together with the British nationwide title. He was additionally third in the important thing Giro d’Italia time trial to Pisa, simply 9 seconds slower than winner Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) and Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers).

“When it was lower than an hour, I may go and do a very good effort on the TT bike. I may go and do my factor,” Hayter stated.

“I used to be lucky to have such good gear, even when I used to be bodily off tempo, I would be good in time trials.”

Focusing on stage races with time trial in 2026

Hayter is within the second and closing yr of his Soudal-QuickStep contract. He has a special race programme for 2026, aimed toward making the most of his time trial abilities and his sprinting skills in hillier races.

He won’t experience the Tour de France regardless of the opening staff time trial in Barcelona, with a experience on the Vuelta a España a part of his 2026 schedule. Hayter has gained the Tour de Pologne and the Tour of Norway previously.

“I am concentrating on extra one-week races this yr. Most of them have a TT, and hopefully some scale back sprints so I can attempt to be aggressive there once more,” he stated.

“I will do the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Basque Nation after which the Tour de Romandie for the primary block of the season. While you have a look at it on paper, it does not appear quite a bit however the race days add up fairly shortly. I am going to do a one-week race and have two or three weeks in between. That ought to let me hopefully get to every race in fine condition and able to carry out.”

Hayter is now 27 and has confronted a sequence of obstacles in his skilled profession. They’ve knocked him again, however he has all the time quietly fought again.

He has by no means ridden the Tour de France however hopes to take action in 2027 when the race begins in Britain. The monitor occasions on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Video games are one other aim.

Hayter was Omnium and Workforce Pursuit world champion in 2022 and gained a silver medal with Nice Britain within the staff pursuit on the 2024 Paris Olympics. Within the Workforce Pursuit closing for gold in opposition to Australia, Hayter gave his all to assist drag Nice Britain again into competition however slipped off his saddle on the final lap. He was vastly disillusioned, however it has not hit his need to once more race on the monitor.

“I would love to do extra, to be trustworthy, I get pleasure from it,” he stated.

“I could not experience the monitor on a regular basis, however it’s simply good to combine it up. I get pleasure from just a few forms of bike racing, and fortunately, I get to do them. The Omnium or the Madison are pure racing for me. There are not any staff ways, it is simply it is simply racing actually stripped again to the fundamentals.”

Sadly, the UCI calendars and qualification guidelines hamper riders from combining WorldTour street racing and monitor.

“I would prefer to hold racing on the monitor, and I’ll most likely come again to the Olympics. I would love to do the Worlds on the finish of the season too, relying on how issues go,” Hayter stated.

“To do the World Cups, you need to rating factors beforehand, after which the Europeans and the World Cups are both dangerous timing for me or midway internationally.”

“I’ve hopefully bought fairly just a few years left of my profession. I would not wish to finish my profession with out driving the Tour de France. I do not suppose it’s going to be this yr, however subsequent yr could be fairly good.”