Great Britain's Ethan Hayter finished eighth in his debut in the elite discipline at the World Championships time trial in Flanders.

The 23-year-old Hayter, who won eight races in 2021 with Ineos Grenadiers, narrowly missed out on the overall win at last week's Tour of Britain to time trial silver medalist Wout van Aert (Belgium).

On Sunday, he finished 1:27 ahead of his Ineos Grenadiers teammate Filippo Ganna (ITA) in Bruges. Afterwards, he said he was very happy with his effort in the longest time trial of his career, even though the course did not perfectly suit his riding style.

"I'm very happy with that ride because I was hoping for a top ten finish today. I'm also happy that Filippo won. I'm also happy for Filippo to win, he's a great guy and I'm very happy for him.

"Obviously I was better on the climbs because I'm smaller than those guys. I'm a sprinter and a track rider, so I wanted to pack a punch on the climbs. I wasn't at 100% today, but sometimes it's better not to be fresh for time trials."

"I am very happy with today. We were able to improve in some sections and we didn't get a lot of time trial training in, but I'm happy."

Hayter looks ahead to next Sunday's road race-the longest race of his career.

On paper, Hayter, an all-rounder with strong sprinting ability on hilly, punchy courses, is well suited to the Flanders road race, even if it is premature to place high expectations on him as a second-year pro. Nevertheless, he has had a busy schedule over the past month, including an overall win at the Tour of Norway, and has yet to see the course.

"To be honest, I haven't seen the course," he said. 'To be honest, I haven't seen the course. I was busy racing.

"It's really fun to have everyone back on Tuesday night and Wednesday, especially the younger guys (me, Tom, Fred, and Jake). Especially the young players like me, Tom, Fred, and Jake.

In addition to Hayter, his brother, Leo of the DSM Development Team, also won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège-Espoire solo race on Saturday. Ethan, who was following the race updates online, admitted that he was more nervous for his brother than before his elite debut at the World Championships.

"He's struggling a lot, but he's doing really well. 'He's been unlucky more than anything. I have to admit, I was overjoyed for him. There was no TV coverage, so I was watching Direct Bello. In fact, I was probably more nervous for him than I was for my own race today. My hands were sweating."

As the highly successful season draws to a close, Hayter said he plans to compete in the Italian fall classics after the world championships instead of Paris-Roubaix next month. He may also compete in the track world championships, but his British team would need special permission to compete.

"I think it is more likely that I will go to Italy and do a one-day race there," Hayter said of his future schedule. I personally don't think I'm ready for Roubaix. Personally I don't think I'm ready for Roubaix. At the moment I'm going to Italy and I'm really enjoying racing there."

"I don't know why, but the British Cycling team is not competing in the Cup of Nations. So I don't know yet because I'm not eligible at the moment and I'm still trying to get an exemption. The week before that is the British Championships, so I'll definitely be competing in the British Championships.