The nine-day Vuelta a Colombia has been halted mid-race to help ensure the country's emergency services can prioritise assistance for victims of the earthquake which struck the country earlier this week.
Registered 7.4 on the Richter Scale – a major earthquake – Monday's disaster has caused over 270 known deaths to date, with more than 300 people missing and many times more that number injured, as well as significant damage to buildings and infrastructure in western Colombia. It was the country's biggest earthquake in years and massive rescue operations are currently ongoing.
