Ethan Hayter 'hoping to win three gold medals' at Tokyo Olympics before life with Ineos
The 21-year-old recently signed with Ineos but will focus on the track until after Tokyo
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While many pro riders will be adjusting their schedules this year to accommodate the Olympics around their usual road calendar, Brit Ethan Hayter is waiting to begin life in the professional peloton until after the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The 21-year-old signed a three-year contract with Ineos in November but won't be focusing on road racing until after this summer as he wants to win three gold medals in Japan, a small feat that would lift him up to being the 15th most successful British Olympian of all-time.
"When I’ve got my sheet with my goals on, my top one is three golds," Hayter tells the Telegraph (opens in new tab). "When you see it, you think that’s weird. I’m hoping to go to the Olympics and win three gold medals.
"But the way I see it is you may as well try and do as best you can. I’ve been to the Euros and ridden all three and got three medals and I’ve got quite good performances at the Worlds, too."
Unbridled confidence and further opportunities for Olympic glory if things don't go right this time are the benefits of youth, but Hayter, born in London, has the stats to back it up.
>>> Lizzie Deignan: ‘The Olympics will be my biggest goal of the season’
"At senior elite events, I’ve been on the podium more times than I haven’t, which is a pretty good record. You may as well try to do as best you can," he says.
One particular podium appearance, his best result to date he says, was beating Elia Viviani, who won gold in the omnium at Rio 2016 ahead of Mark Cavendish, to become European omnium champion in 2018.
Alongside the scalp of the Italian sprinter, he has received high praise from a compatriot who has already achieved Hayter's goal of three Olympic golds.
After being part of the team that won team pursuit gold at the Track World Championships in March 2018, Ed Clancy dubbed Ethan Hayter "the next Bradley Wiggins", which would excite any young British cyclist.
"Obviously I don’t hear it and think, ‘Oh yes, I’ll be the next Bradley Wiggins’," says Hayter. "But you hear it and the fact that he believes it is possible, is quite exciting and something I’d like to do. If I get three golds then, yes, I am well on the way."
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Hi. I'm Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor. I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.
Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).
I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.
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