'It's not completely under my control but I'm going to try' – After ultra-narrow TT defeat to Pogačar, Ethan Hayter throws hat in ring for red in Vuelta a España

Ethan Hayter has said he will do his utmost to bounce back from his painfully narrow defeat in the opening stage of the Vuelta a España with a crack at the red jersey on stage 2.

Beaten by less than a tenth of a second by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the opening time trial, Hayter’s disappointment on Saturday evening in the Vuelta TT hot seat was palpable as he watched his chance of a first-ever Grand Tour lead go up in smoke at the last possible moment.

However, his determination to fight back was equally on show at the start in Monaco, where with bonus seconds aplenty, the Briton is in with a strong fighting chance of taking la roja on stage 2.

“There are a lot of different ways to play it, but we’ll see how it goes,” Hayter – wearing the green of points leader by default as Pogačar was in red – told reporters before the longest stage of the 2026 Vuelta from Monaco to Manosque got underway.

“It’s not completely under my control, but I’m going to try.”

Hayter has some formidable rivals, he recognised, in the shape of the man in red, of course, but also Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike), just nine seconds back and who has already flung his hat in the ring for the chance of taking the lead via bonus seconds, like Hayter.

“It depends how much they both want it,” Hayter said, “for example if Tadej wants the jersey, he’ll keep it, and there’s nothing I can do about it. But it’ll be interesting to see how it goes.”

As for breakaways, "if there's an opportunity I'll take it, but they might control me, and it'll be hard to get away on the flat. We have some time at the start to warm up" – with a 21 kilometre neutralisation– "so we'll see how it goes."

"I can sprint, but I haven't sprinted in a race in a small while. I wouldn't bet on it too much."

As for how he felt after Pogačar managed to beat him at literally the last second and by the barest of margins, he said, "disappointing, obviously to lose to one of the last riders is difficult because I wanted to win as much as some of the other guys. But that's racing sometimes."

"I don't really need a calculator when I lose by less than a tenth of a second, but for anyone else to beat me, they have to win the stage. And if they win the stage, then they deserve the red jersey."