Day two of the UCI Road World Championships saw Great Britain’s Leo Hayter take home the bronze medal in the hotly contested under-23 men’s time trial in Wollongong, Australia.
Hayter delivered an impeccable performance, passing the first check point in 8:55.56. Hayter, who won the under-23 men’s time trial national title in June continued to go hard, completing the first lap in 16:48.73 which continued to be the fastest time of the day.
The 21-year-old slowed slightly at the start of the second lap, losing 23 seconds on the eventual winner. However, he finished strongly, covering the 28.8km course in an impressive time of 34:37.56. This performance sent Hayter right to the top of the hot seat, where he held off 13 riders until Norway’s Soren Waerenskjold stormed to a 24.16 second lead, dropping Hayter into second place position.
The final few riders put the pressure on those on the hotseat, with USA’s Logan Currie finishing 8.87 seconds behind Hayter. Currie sat in third place for just a few moments before Belgium’s Alec Segaert delivered an impressive ride to take the silver medal, ultimately knocking Hayter into the bronze medal position in the final standings.
On winning Great Britain’s first medal of the championships, Leo said: “I wasn’t expecting this result today, to be honest. It’s my first international time trial since 2019 so I didn’t really expect anything, so it’s a really nice surprise.
“I’ve struggled with sickness for the past few months, so I came and did what I could do and have come away with a bronze medal; it gives me confidence in what I can achieve going forwards.”
Leo will compete again in the U23 men’s road race on Friday 23 September from 02:00 BST.
Tomorrow will see Zoe Backstedt and Izzy Sharp racing for the rainbow jersey in the junior women’s time trial. They will be followed in the afternoon by Josh Tarling, who will contest the junior men’s time trial title.
You can watch all racing live on Eurosport, GCN and discovery+, as well as following the competition via the UCI Race Hub.
