Leo Hayter courts WorldTour offers after Baby Giro win

Brit says dominant performance was unexpected

- Vern Pitt

Leo Hayter’s agent is in for a busy few weeks. After the 20-year-old Brit won the Baby Giro – one of the biggest under-23 races in the world alongside the Tour de l’Avenir – in dominant fashion, he is now being inundated with enquiries from the world’s top teams.

Hayter, younger brother of Ineos’s Ethan, won the race with a substantial margin of 2.21 but at one point had a lead of nearly six minutes after putting in a blistering performance in the mountains.

He told Cycling Weekly: “I haven’t got a contract yet. As you can probably imagine, I have options and with my agent we’re working through them, and we’ll see what’s best for me in the future.” Up to nine top teams have made enquiries about his services for 2023, CW understands.

Hayter’s performance at the U23 Giro came off the back of a challenging 18 months which included a period away from the sport to rediscover his motivation, and a split with his former team DSM.

“This is the result that proves what I know I’ve always been able to do. I know the numbers I produce are really good and I know I’m capable of winning big things, but you always need a bit of luck and things to go your way. This year, they really haven’t. I’ve had Covid and then quite a few different small injuries and niggles and bike-fit problems, and I couldn’t really get going,” he told CW.

Hayter, who rides for the talent factory Hagens Berman Axeon squad we profiled in the 26 May issue of CW, said his favourite part of the week wasn’t actually wrapping up the GC but winning stage two – the first of a pair of stage victories – where he broke away from the pack and triumphed alone by 39 seconds.