Tour de Romandie: Hayter sprints to stage 2 victory

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Ethan Hayter (Ineos-Grenadiers) bounced back from losing the lead yesterday to take stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie in a reduced bunch sprint, while Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) maintained the overall lead.

The Briton left the opposition standing as he accelerated  from a long way out on the slightly uphill finish in Echellons, with rivals Jon Aberasturi (Trek-Segafredo) second but almost a bike length back, and top sprint favourite Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) caught up in traffic and finally third.

Moments after his victory, Hayter was congratulated in person by Gaviria in an honest recognition of the Ineos Grenadiers rider’s superiority on stage.

Hayter himself crossed the line with his finger to his lips in an apparent gesture of ‘silence’ perhaps aimed at any potential critics after a fraught 24 hours for Ineos Grenadiers at the Tour de Romandie. 

The British team had one setback when Hayter lost the jersey when he crashed heavily late on stage 1, while at the back of the peloton. They were also hit by a 20-second time penalty for GC leader and defending champion Geraint Thomas for taking a bottle a scant 200 metres too near to the finish on the same day.

“We knew it was possible, but I didn’t know how I would be after yesterday and this morning I really didn’t feel good,” Hayter said after taking the third win of his season on the 168-kilometre stage.

”I rode my way into the stage but the team were amazing. It was probably my nicest win.”

As for Thomas’ penalty, Hayter added, “It’s a shame to - not ruin the GC - but it takes away from the race," before concluding, “The rules are the rules and we will keep trying.”

How it unfolded

Ineos Grenadiers and Hayter himself certainly bounced back with a vengeance on Thursday’s rolling stage 2 with more than 2,500 metres of vertical climbing, keeping the pace ferociously high in the final couple of hours and reeling in Nils Brun (Switzerland) and Tom Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) the last two survivors of a four-man break with some 20 kilometres to go.

As on stage 1, Andrei Amador proved to be a tower of strength on the series of grinding uphills that littered the last part of the day’s racing. Then teammates  Brandon Rivera of Colombia and Belgian Laurens de Plus were equally effective at maintaining the peloton’s speed on the winding descents and long drags across exposed pasturelands.

The consequence of such a high pace on the series of draggy climbs was that the peloton shrank notably on the run-in. Among the victims, some potential sprint challengers like young Briton Ethan Vernon (Deceuninck-QuickStep) had to sit up, along with former double overall winner and Ineos racer Chris Froome (Israel Premier Tech).

Ineos Grenadiers briefly took a back seat in the closing kilometres as rivals from Israel Premier Tech, Bahrain Victorious and AG2R Citroéon curled round the line of Ineos racers at the head of the pack. 

However, on the long, cornerless rise into the finishing straight at Echellons, the tall figure of Magnus Sheffield, with Hayter glued to his back wheel, loomed into view at the front of the 50-strong peloton.

Sheffield dropped back with some 250 metres to go, but despite the relatively long sprint for the line, Hayter’s superiority at the head of the pack was never in doubt. 

Aberasturi did his utmost to regain ground yet neither he nor Gaviria could do anything to stop Hayter from taking his second win in third days, and give Ineos Grenadiers a timely morale boost in the process.