The race from the rain, through the sun, to the hail, to the rain. That was stage three of Paris-Nice in a nutshell. As the last few teams tore across the line in Auxerre, a hail storm erupted leaving already cold and wet bodies aching even further.
Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel were both swaddled in towels, jackets and warm clothing by soigneurs as reporters watched on, hoping someone would take pity and hand them a towel to dry dictaphones and camera lenses. In the end, nobody did, and some were even removing sodden trainers as Brandon McNulty, the new race leader, walked into the post-stage press conference representing the stage three winners, UAE Team Emirates.
Many were surprised to see Soudal Quick-Step finish 21 seconds down on UAE and Bora-Hansgrohe finish 54 seconds adrift. McNulty told the room of journalists and other media that he was equally as shocked and admitted that he felt the inclement weather towards the end of the stage had been decisive.
"No not at all, but I think we were a bit lucky with the weather now," he said when asked if he was expecting such a time gap. "But in the end we’ll take what we can and you make your own luck there. But in the end, it's how it is and we will just enjoy this win.
"I think overall we had a good ride as a team. I mean, all things even, I think we would still be up there. But that's impossible to say in the end how much the weather really did affect us but I think we can be super proud of the way we rode, I think we executed it perfectly, did our pacing as we wanted so we're all proud of the way we rode today."
As well as McNulty in the race lead, UAE now have Finn Fisher Black, João Almeida and Jay Vine in second, third and fourth respectively.
Reflecting on the team’s performance, McNulty talked through the improvements that UAE had made to its time trial equipment in recent months which he said had been integral on the course around Auxerre.
"We had Nils [Politt] who was going to be our big guy on the flats and then the rest of us I think we're pretty even, we're all good time trialists," he explained. “So we really just had to push on the climbs and then stick together and use that to carry more speed on the fast ride home, which worked out perfectly."
"The team has developed a new frame, I guess two years ago now," he added. “And then we made the switch to the Enve wheels last year and the tires also to Continental. So all these things add up and are huge, especially nowadays with how tech.
"Also our skin suit is super, super fast and precise. So it's really the whole package. So yeah, it's benefited the whole team."
With the TTT chalked off, the overall favourites will now inevitably be offensive as the race heads towards the slopes of Mont Brouilly for stage four. Evenepoel is now eighth overall, 18 seconds from the race lead, with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) a further two seconds back in tenth. Meanwhile Primož Roglič lies almost a minute from the leader's jersey in 28th place.
Given how the time trial played out, McNulty said he is expecting fireworks for the rest of the race as Evenepoel, Bernal and Roglič look to reassert their authority.
“In the end it's nice to have a big gap but it also means that the race is going to be super difficult and aggressive," he said. "So we'll just have to be defensive and watch for attacks from the other teams. So we'll see, but it'll definitely be a hard race. I guess tomorrow on Mont Brouilly it'll be really tough and then when the weekend comes too.
“Tomorrow looks really difficult. I've seen some different things about the stage on Saturday with the weather and what not so I don't know what's going to happen there. Tomorrow, I think it will be one of the toughest stages of the week and then the final day in Nice is always chaos.”
