Stage 3 of the Vuelta a España was set to host the first mountain showdown of many over the coming weeks, but the weather intervened on the road to Font Romeu, and the stage was cancelled.
Race leader Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team were primed to lead the way to the line and likely extend his red jersey lead.
All that remained before the final climb was to catch breakaway survivor Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma) and late attacker Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana), but any hopes of racing continued to the summit finish were dashed as a massive hailstorm struck.
Television images faltered as the riders raced over the penultimate climb of the Col de Mont-Louis, reappearing to show dropped riders pulling off the road to take shelter and Pogačar riding to the front of the peloton to wave his fellow riders to a halt.
The entire Vuelta convoy ground to a halt at a hotel near the top of the Col de Mont-Louis, the soaked and frozen riders quickly piling inside to seek refuge from the abysmal conditions. Shortly afterwards, word filtered through that the stage would be cancelled. There would be no racing to the line and no results taken at the time of the stoppage.
As a result of the cancellation, Pogačar continues in the race lead, heading towards stage 4's mountainous day through Andorra with a nine-second lead over Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).
There are no changes to the points or mountain classifications overnight, either. Breakaway rider Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) led the race over the day's only intermediate sprint to take 20 points. He won't take the points lead from Pogačar, however, with all results on the stage cancelled.
It's unclear whether Fortunato and Wenzel made it to the top of the stage's penultimate climb before the race was halted. Regardless, no points have been handed out for stage 3, so Koen Bouwman (Visma-Lease a Bike) remains in the polka dot jersey as king of the mountains.
How it unfolded
Rounding off the race's French Gran Salida, stage 3 of the Vuelta a España took the peloton on a 174km run towards the Pyrenees from Gruissan to Font Romeu.
After a flat first three-quarters of the stage, the road gradually turned upwards towards the race's opening first-category climb, the Col de Mont-Louis (19.4km at 4.8%). A short 4km descent led the way onto the final ascent to Font Romeu (9.8km at 5%), a second-category climb.
Attacks flew from the start of the stage, with the slim chance of a potential breakaway win on the cards. Among the early movers were green jersey Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep), in the break for the second day in a row, and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility).
The pair were joined out front by Timo Roosen (Picnic-PostNL), Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ United), Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma), and Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco-AlUla). Milan Vader (Pinarello-Q36.5) briefly gave chase before dropping back to the peloton.
The sextet raced out to a 2:30 lead, controlled from behind by UAE Team Emirates-XRG, who massed on the front of the peloton for team and race leader Tadej Pogačar. The first half of the day passed with little incident, with UAE having cut the break's advantage to under two minutes.
Not long afterwards, crosswinds hit the race, splitting the peloton apart as UAE pushed at the front. The split was undone a few kilometres later, though, with the wind having only a brief effect.
Hayter led the race over the intermediate sprint with 45km to go, the British racer adding 20 points to his tally and seemingly leapfrogging Pogačar in the points classification.
Behind, Pogačar's team continued to work, leading the peloton onto the Col de Mont-Louis with 35km to go, 1:30 behind the break.
At 29km from the line, Hellemose was the first man to react in the breakaway, bursting clear of his companions. He took Cort and Wenzel with him as the peloton closed the gap to less than a minute, while Hayter, Le Gac, and Roosen were reabsorbed.
Hellemose was the first man dropped from the leading trio as Wenzel accelerated with 25km to go. Cort briefly stuck with the Luxembourger as the heavens opened, but he soon dropped away and back to the peloton, too.
Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) launched the first volley from the peloton, jumping away 19km from the finish. He soon crossed over to Wenzel. The pair raced on together into ever heavier rain and hail amid a massive storm, with Fortunato leading the way over the summit.
Shortly afterwards, television images showed dropped riders pulling to the side of the road to seek shelter from the hail. The race was neutralised shortly afterwards, as Pogačar called a halt to the action amid the treacherous conditions.
Pogačar and the rest of the riders were quickly moved into a hotel near the summit, before Vuelta organisers announced that racing wouldn't resume as stage 3 was cancelled.
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