Fresh from a gold medal in the team pursuit at the European U23 track championships, Tooting cyclist Ethan Hayter is showing his versatility on a bike.

The 18-year-old is in his first season in the U23 ranks and as well as taking team pursuit gold in Portugal last month, Hayter also won silver in the points race.

Just a week later he took third in the final stage of the U23 Tour of the Alsace, on the road, and he hopes the road miles he has been putting in can pay off when he returns to the track this autumn.

“It’s my first season of U23, so I’ve been learning a lot, and I’ve been going pretty well on the road too, so it’s been good,” he said.

“I was really pleased with the result in Alsace and most of this year we’ve actually been doing a lot of road riding, so the other way round to what you would think.

“We’ve been doing predominantly road, and then dropping into the track to work on that each time there’s been an event coming up – I enjoy doing both.

“From Berlin Six Days back in January we’ve just been doing road, all the way until about a month before the Euros.

“You build a lot of strength doing the big miles on the road, and up the climbs, and it definitely helps when you go back onto the track.”

Hayter was victorious in that Berlin Six Day event alongside fellow British Cycling Olympic Senior Academy rider Matt Walls.

The four-day competition saw the best U23 riders in Europe complete one Madison a night, with the British pair’s consistency paying off in overall victory.

Cycling success has come quickly to Hayter, who only got into the sport after being inspired by the London 2012 Paralympics.

And having already finished fifth in a senior team pursuit at the Apeldoorn Track World Cup last winter, he is keen to be a part of the proceedings when the event returns to Manchester’s National Cycling Centre in November.

“I haven’t looked too far ahead yet, it’s been pretty hectic, but it would be great to race in the Manchester World Cup,” he said.

“I did the Apeldoorn World Cup last year, but I can imagine it’d be different in Manchester this year and hopefully we’ll have a good chance of getting a good result.

“It’d be one of the biggest events I would’ve done, and good to hopefully do it in front of family and friends.

“A World Cup is a great thing to go and watch, it’s not hard to understand and it’s really fun – you can’t really go wrong.”

On November 10 to 12, incredible riders like Ethan Hayter will compete on the Manchester Velodrome in one of the most anticipated events on the track cycling calendar. Buy your tickets http://www.trackworldcup.co.uk/tickets/