Ethan Hayter: British cyclist claims first World Tour victory in prologue at Tour de Romandie

Ethan Hayter during the prologue of the Tour de Romandie

British cyclist Ethan Hayter claimed his first World Tour victory after winning the prologue of the Tour de Romandie.

The 23-year-old takes the leaders jersey after beating two-time former world time trial champion Rohan Dennis by four seconds.

He finished the 5.12km route around Lausanne in five minutes 52 seconds.

Hayter’s Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Geraint Thomas, who is the defending champion, came fourth.

“I had a couple of setbacks at the start of the year, I’ve taken a break from racing and trained really hard and to come back like this is nice,” said Hayter.

“We thought these next couple of days could be quite good for me as well so we’ll keep trying to win stages and the overall with the rest of the team.”

Hayter, who recovered from Covid-19 earlier this year, is the British time trial champion and world title winner in the omnium.

He will start stage one’s 178km run to Romont on Wednesday wearing the leader’s green jersey.

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider Ethan Vernon made it three Britons in the top 10 as he finished seventh, 14 seconds down.