Tour of Britain 2021: Ineos Grenadiers win team time trial, Ethan Hayter assumes race lead

ByEurosport

Updated 07/09/2021 at 15:04 GMT

Ethan Hayter leads the Tour of Britain after his Ineos Grenadiers team emerged victorious on the Stage 3 time trial. The British-based team stopped the clock at 20:22 following the 18.2km-ride around Carmarthenshire. Deceuninck-QuickStep placed second and Team Jumbo-Visma third. Hayter leads Ineos team-mate Rohan Dennis by six seconds in GC with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) third.

Ethan Hayter of United Kingdom turquoise points jersey, Rohan Dennis of Australia, Owain Doull of United Kingdom, Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland, Carlos Cano Rodriguez of Spain, Richie Porte of Australia and Team INEOS Grenadiers sprint during the 17th Tour

Image credit: Getty Images

Ineos Grenadiers claimed victory on the Stage 3 time trial at the Tour of Britain, and, in doing so, moved their rider, Ethan Hayter into the overall lead. Julian Alaphilippe’s Deceuninck-QuickStep team finished some 17 seconds shy of the Ineos time, and Jumbo-Visma third at 20 seconds.

An unfortunate puncture for Pascal Eenkoorn in the last kilometre cost Jumbo-Visma's Wout van Aert crucial time in the overall standings but, given Ineos' margin of victory over the Dutch outfit, probably not the stage win.

The result sees Hayter, who finished second on Stage 2, move up from third to first on GC, with team-mate Dennis second – some six seconds in arrears and Van Aert at 16 seconds. 2018 winner Alaphilippe is poised in fourth 23 seconds off the pace.

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“All six riders gave everything. We all rode a really good TTT, and that’s really satisfying to see,” said Hayter after the race.

Rally Cycling’s Robin Carpenter held a 22 second-lead over Van Aert and 26 second-lead over Hayter at the start of the stage but his team - last off the ramp - finished 11th some 1’32” off the pace. He now sits in 12th in GC.

Hayter, overall winner at the Tour of Norway in early August, will wear the leader’s jersey for Wednesday’s queen stage, a 210.2-km ride from Aberaeron to Great Orme, Llandudno that ends with a testing uphill finish. The Tour of Britain – in its 17th year – has been won twice before by a British rider, in 2013 by Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and in 2016 by Steve Cummings (Team Dimension Data).