Ethan Hayter reacts after losing Vuelta stage and red jersey to Tadej Pogačar by 0.09 seconds

Ethan Hayter must have spent a long time thinking on Saturday that he would leave Monaco with both a stage victory and the red leader's jersey. The Brit set the fastest time in the time trial in Stage 1 and then watched rider after rider fail to match him. Tadej Pogačar, however, still had one final burst left and beat Hayter by just nine hundredths of a second. That one clearly hurt...

Pogačar had actually been slower than Hayter earlier on the course, but the UAE Team Emirates-XRG Slovenian admitted afterwards that he only really went all-out in the closing part of the time trial. When he heard that Joshua Tarling (Netcompany INEOS) had been knocked out of the hot seat by Hayter, Pogačar put the power down once more as he raced past his own home in Monaco.

The image of Hayter, sitting in the hot seat, pulling at his hair as he watches the world champion squeeze just underneath his time, is a painful one. Especially because, immediately after completing his own time trial, he had still been so pleased with his performance when speaking to Eurosport. "I rode a good time trial, although I was nervous and it definitely wasn't perfect. But I don't think it will have been perfect for anyone," he said.

"It was all about the corners, and trying to recover in between them, with my fast position and fast bike. I think I got everything out of it that I could, so let's see what the rest do," Hayter said hopefully. He genuinely appeared to believe victory might be his. "I was fast and managed to keep the speed as high as possible."

After the raw emotion in the hot seat, where Hayter looked as though he could almost have torn the chair apart, the British time trial champion gave his reaction later in the evening. "I'm content with being on the podium, but at the same time, disappointed with the outcome," according to Soudal Quick-Step’s social media channels.

"Obviously, it's been a bit difficult and it was a really hard course - really fast, narrow and technical - so I was quite nervous beforehand. The corners were important, but also keeping a good position and maintaining a good speed. It was a really tough effort, but I feel like I gave everything I had. I'm happy to have started the race with a podium and such good shape," Hayter explained after coming agonisingly close to both the stage victory and the first red jersey of the Vuelta.