No argument with nature: Behind the cancellation of Vuelta stage 3

The peloton had been flagged away from the start in Gruissan beneath serene blue skies, but there were murmurs of possible thunderstorms when the race reached the Pyrenees later in the day.

The most pessimistic forecast began to harden into fact by mid-afternoon, at which point the clouds above the finish at Font-Romeu were already dark and laden with menace. Soon there was thunder rumbling all around the valley, and heavy rain falling at the finish line.

That rain quickly gave way to hail, prompting the spectators along the finishing straight to seek out shelter wherever they could. A sizeable delegation forced their way into the pressroom, where the security guard didn’t have the heart to turn them away. They huddled around in the doorway, squinting at the television screens for updates on the race.

Those screens would go blank after another clap of thunder, and when they flickered back into life shortly afterwards, host broadcaster TVE had lost live pictures from the race. Confusion reigned and in the commentary box, Pedro Delgado and Carlos de Andrés were compelled to piece things together as best they could from the information available on race radio.

All the while, hailstones of ever-increasing diameter were bouncing off the road in Font-Romeu and there was no sign of the conditions abating. The UAE-led peloton, meanwhile, was riding directly into the teeth of the storm. 

Television pictures were restored just as the peloton began to be pelted with hailstones on the upper reaches of the Col de Mont-Louis. Riders including Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) stopped to seek shelter beneath the porch of a hotel. The peloton continued, but not with real intent, and word filtered through that the stage had been suspended. 

Pogačar – already the patron of this Vuelta – held up an arm to signal a formal halt to proceedings, and the maillot rojo and the rest of the peloton joined their colleagues in seeking shelter. 

Bruno Armirail, a native of the Pyrenees, was hardy enough to stay outside the hotel in his short sleeves, as though braced for a resumption, but it was soon clear that continuing all the way to Font-Romeu simply wasn’t going to be an option.

The hail was getting worse and, besides, the race had been stopped in such an ad hoc manner that the commissaires would have struggled to find a demonstrably fair way of starting it up again. 

Within fifteen minutes, the Vuelta organisation announced that, “for the security of the riders, stage three has been cancelled due to hail and severe weather.” The UCI’s Extreme Weather Protocol technically allowed for a range of responses from the race organisation, but the decision to cancel the stage altogether was surely the most sensible one.

There were certainly no immediate dissenting voices, with Visma | Lease a Bike sports director Maarten Wynants speaking for many: “It’s been a good call from the riders and organisation to step off the bike. It’s the safest for everyone to cancel the race because the weather conditions were simply too dangerous to continue.”

The dangers weren’t limited to the riders. The cable car service that had ferried spectators up the mountainside all afternoon was suspended due to the conditions, leaving them stranded at the top and now pleading for lifts back down again from assorted members of the Vuelta caravan.

When weather conditions have shortened Giro d’Italia stages over the years, all sorts of polemics have bubbled up in the aftermath, but there was no visible resistance to the decision taken here. 

“Suddenly the thunderstorm broke out and there wasn’t much racing left to do,” Wout van Aert told Sporza. “It would have been very unsafe because the road was covered in hailstones.”

Back in the press room, Alain Luneau, the dapper mayor of Font-Romeu, was in total agreement. He may have been denied the chance of a photo opportunity with Pogačar atop the podium, but he was quick to couch the day as a success for his locality on the Franco-Spanish border all the same.

“We’re at almost 2,000 metres above sea level and in the mountains, after August 15, the weather can always change very quickly. It’s just a pity that today was that day,” Luneau told us.

“In terms of safety, for the riders, it was the best choice. And for us, it’s still been a wonderful experience. There’s been great collaboration between different departments, and it’s really a positive reflection on us. The Vuelta organisers have seen that, and I think they’ll come back. We’ll have another stage one day…”

The day had begun with a polemic over the Vuelta’s questionable decision to hire an influencer in the name of that grimly 21st century buzzword, ‘engagement.’ But there was no debate about how it all ended at Font-Romeu. Sometimes there’s just nothing to be done against an overwhelming force of nature. We might get used to the idea on the Pogačar Vuelta.