Ineos Grenadiers rider delivers stage 5 win in familiar territory
Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) survived a late scare on stage 5, capitalising on a split in the peloton to win a close-fought sprint and reclaim the race lead at the Tour of Britain.
A fall for Hayter’s teammate Owain Doull on the final corner meant a number of sprinters were caught out and distanced but Hayter, who came into the stage just two seconds behind race leader Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), narrowly avoided the fall and then made use of an excellent final leadout from Michal Kwiatkowski. Hayter took the win and, as a result of bonus seconds, now leads van Aert by eight seconds with three days remaining in the race.
“The hard work was done before the last kilometre and the team were amazing. With around 20km to go we were there or thereabouts and out of trouble. Then in the last 10km it got twisty and technical but we were in the perfect place really. On the last corner with around 700m to go a couple of guys came up the inside, and I knew that I just had to get around it safely. I didn’t want to be at the front either because it was still quite a long way to go,” Hayter said after taking his eighth win of a hugely successful breakout season.
“I saw that Doull started drifting, then he crashed and his bike started drifting as well. I just squeezed between the bike and the barriers. Then I screamed on the radio for Kwiatkowski to go flat out. I just put it in my biggest gear, went for it, and it was enough.”
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