Ethan Hayter forced to concede yellow in Tour de Romandie time trial

Ethan Hayter dropped from first to 10th overall at the Tour of Romandie in today's time trial stage, after finishing 49 seconds down on stage winner Juan Ayuso of UAE-Team Emirates.

It was the first WorldTour victory for 20-year-old Ayuso, who won the youth classification in last year's Tour de Romandie and was third in the Vuelta a España.

The Spaniard, who covered the 18.75km course in 25.15, also inherited the race lead from Ineos Grenadiers rider Hayter, who finished 21st on the day.

"I went down [hill to the finish] full gas, I knew I was close at the intermediate so I knew I could take some risks to try and get the win," Ayuso said afterwards.

"I am getting better but the legs are getting worse each day," smiled Ayuso at the finish, acknowledging the toll the race was taking. "I'm happy that every day I'm improving even though I feel like I'm on the limit." 

Based on Châtel Saint Denis the stage began at around 800m altitude and took riders up into the mountainous territory to the east of the town. While there were no major climbs involved, there was enough uphill riding to mean that this was a stage that favoured the lighter riders over the big engines.

This was exemplified by Adam Yates, who isn't a renowned time triallist but set a longstanding best intermediate time at the first checkpoint, and finished an eventual third on the day, 17 seconds down on his team-mate Ayuso and 12 seconds down on second-placed Matteo Jorgensen (Movistar).

Max Poole was the second best British finisher on the stage, coming home in 10th place, 27 seconds down on Ayuso and the highest finisher on his DSM team.

Today's time trial was a major shake-up for the GC, which nevertheless remains delicately poised with the top 10 riders separated by a mere 38 seconds. Tomorrow could see the same thing happen again, as the riders take on a brutal fourth and penultimate stage.

The 160km outing, starting in Sion, takes riders over a total five classified climbs, including two cat-ones, and includes an hors-cat summit finish above 2,000m. The 21km ascent at 9% average gradient to Thyon 2000 is not something many riders will look forward to, but should provide fireworks for the fans.