Hello and welcome to stage three of the Vuelta a España!

The Vuelta wouldn’t be the Vuelta without an early uphill finish, and this year the riders have only had to wait until day three for the first. This stage climaxes with a double-header of the category one Col de Mon-Louis, followed by an uphill finish to the category two summit Font Romeu.

They’re far from the hardest challenges the riders will face this race, but it should be enough to draw the GC riders into a fight and give us a clear sign of who’s going the best.

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Of course, the man we’re all expecting to be going best is Tadej Pogačar, especially following his victory on the stage one time trial. He’s in the red jersey, and may look to extend his lead today – and possibly go for another stage win, too.

The riders are on the move in Gruissan for the unofficial start, and are waiting for the flag to signify racing has begun.

Yesterday, Matthew Brennan claimed a sensational sprint victory on just his second day of Grand Tour racing, suggesting that he could be one of the stars of this Vuelta. But with such a tough finale, today certainly won’t be a stage for him, as the climbers come to the fore instead.

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Here are both the stage winners so far at the start, Tadej Pogačar and Matthew Brennan, sandwiching Ethan Hayter, who has been frustrated in his attempts to swap the green jersey he’s wearing for the red.

OFFICIAL START

And they’re off!

Ethan Hayter is in the action again! A 6-man group has got up the road and has a lead of almost a minute. Could this be the break of the day already?

Also with the Brit are Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Timo Roosen (Picnic PostNL), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco-AlUla), Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility).

1:30 now for the break ahead of the peloton, which looks content to let this group go. There is one poursuivant, Milan Vader (Bahrain Victorious), who is trying to join the sextet, but he’s drifting backwards and looks set to be caught.

Although it finishes with a couple of climbs, the entire first two thirds of the stage is flat,, which explains the make-up of the break.

Tadej Pogačar’s UAE team have taken control of the peloton, in defence of his red jersey. And are keeping the gap at two minutes. This isn’t the pace of a team seeking to loan out the red jersey to another rider – and regardless, none of the riders in the break are likely to be strong enough climbers to hold off the peloton even if they were given a big lead.

Of the 6 riders in the break, Hayter is the only man with 1:40 of Pogačar on GC, at 29 seconds.

150KM TO GO

The break’s lead is being kept held steady, at 2:10.

That’s enough to make Ethan Hayter (pictured here in green at the start of the day) the virtual leader on GC, but they will need a lot more time to stand a chance of holding off the peloton on the final climbs later.

The six riders up the road, whose lead has grown to 2:40.

As you can see, there are no rips in Ethan Hayter’s shorts, unlike yesterday. That strange sartorial choice was explained by the Brit after the stage yesterday.

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Despite crashing yesterday and being in some pain, Cian Uijtdebroeks took to the start today and is still racing. The Movistar rider is a key climbing domestique for Enric Mas, and even a dark horse for GC himself, but will have to dig deep and fight through the pain to avoid losing a lot of time today.

130KM TO GO

The race remains in a holding pattern, the break leading the peloton by two minutes.

The terrain remains flat, and the weather is pleasant, without the kind of wind that might have made echelons a possibility on these roads.

This year we’ve seen him in the rainbow stripes, the yellow jersey, and now the red jersey. He cuts a conspicuous figure in the peloton, and the way this stage is unfolding, with the break firmly in control, he’s the favourite for the stage win again.

With 125km to go, the gap remains at around two minutes.

We’ve been racing for an hour, and they’ve covered 45.7km. Without a big fight to get into the breakaway, and with UAE riding a steady tempo, this hasn’t been to taxing a day for the riders yet, with a more subdued atmosphere than we’ve seen at other similar Grand Tour stages of recent years.

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110KM TO GO

The gap’s grown out a little, to 2:30, but the peloton still have matters firmly in control.

There is still a possibility of the wind playing a role on the stage on this flat run-in to the climbs. It has varied its direction, as you can see from the break here riding in echelon formation, but isn’t yet strong enough to have an effect. But the riders in the peloton will have to stay attentive.

Wout van Aert is in the convoy making his way back to the peloton, after a routine stop. The Belgian went big for the win today, with none other than Tadej Pogačar springing onto his wheel after he attacked.

Can he be in contention today? You sense the final climbs are right at the limit of what he can handle, and at his very best, you can picture him hanging on and then winning the sprint from a group of, say 20 or 30 riders.

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Things are nervous in the peloton. These roads are very exposed, and there’s a real intention by most to get as close to the front as possible, stringing the bunch out. There are even some splits towards the back of the peloton, with some struggling to hang on, with even powerful rouleurs Arthur Kluckers and Bruno Armirail.

We have some real splits now! Only about 50 riders remain in the peloton, with the wind causing it.

So far there’s no sign of any major GC names caught out, although Pogačar’s super-domestique Almeida is well back with his UAE team car – but this could get very interesting. And with many more flat exposed roads like this to come there’s opportunities for more splits.

UAE are pressing on hard at the front of the peloton! They sense an opportunity to rip the race apart here, even before the climb. They’ve reduced the peloton back to 50 or so riders ,after it had come back tougher earlier, and multiple groups behind are desperately chasing in echelon formation. Still no word of any top GC contenders caught out, though.

Meanwhile this is bad news for the break, who’s lead has plummeted to just 40 seconds.

Felix Gall was the biggest name not to be present in the lead group. He’s managed to rejoin the front peloton, however, after a fierce chase from his Decathlon sees the groups come back together.

80KM TO GO

Everything has calmed down again, and those dropped are making their way back into the peloton again. But that doesn’t mean the action is over yet, with more potentials for splits to come as the wind keeps blowing.

The break has also managed to rebuild its lead, back up to 1:45, after it looked as though there day out in front was over.

70KM TO GO

There’s a regrouping in the peloton, post that crosswind action, with riders settling back into it. Wout van Aert is doing a job for his teammates, picking up bidons to distribute to them. That might suggest he isn’t going for the stage today.

All this clam is helping the break, who now lead by 1:45 again.

Flat tyre for Mads Pedersen, who had to change bikes as a result. Luckily for him the pace in the peloton remains subdued, and it’s easy for him to get back into the peloton.

Attention is going to shift now away from crosswinds and towards the final climbs. The gradient is already going very steadily uphill, as they approach the foot of the first, coming up in under 30km.

UAE Team Emirates – XRG are winding this up for Tadej Pogačar ahead of the final climbs. They have control of the peloton, and are setting a steady tempo for now, but have a great group of domestiques to speed things up later, including Jay Vine, Pavel Sivakov and João Almeida, who is safely back in the peloton after being caught out earlier.

Word from the finish is that it’s raining there at the moment, and some dark clouds are hovering over the peloton on the approach to the climb. The weather had already had an effect today with the crosswinds, and now there could be wet roads to contend with – though thankfully, the descent between the two climbs is very short.

DNF – ALEX KIRSCH

It’s been announced that Cofidis’ Alex Kirsch has pulled out of the race, becoming only the second rider to do so at this Vuelta following Sergio Geovani Chumil yesterday. It’s unclear exactly what the reason is.

50KM TO GO

Not long now until the official start of the climb! Before that, the riders will pass through an intermediate sprint, but with a lead still of two minutes, the breakaway riders are set to mop up the lion’s share of the points on offer.

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INTERMEDIATE SPRINT

Hayer takes the intermediate sprint uncontested, to extend his lead in the points classification.

In the peloton, no rider showed any interest in the remainder of the points, letting the UAE domestiques leading it sweep them up.

40KM TO GO

The riders have already been climbing for a long time, but the gradient is about to kick up for the start of the official climb of Col de Mont-Louis. It’s a long one, with 19km left to ride before getting to the top, but averages a steady 4.9%.

UAE continue to lead the bunch, and have brought the gap to the break down to 1:40. The break’s days look numbered, although Hayter might like the shallow nature of this climb.

The breakaway have officially started the climb! With only a slender-looking lead, of 1:30. Behind, UAE are hatching a plan, Pogačar and Almeida having a discussion together, and sharing bidons. By the looks on their faces, they mean business today.

It’s still UAE who are controlling the peloton’s pace as they start the climb, but EF have formed a long train just behind them, with Richard Carapaz poised menacingly at the back of it. We’ll get a good idea today of whether he has brought his Tour de France form to the Vuelta.

30KM TO GO

UAE’s pace is starting to claim some victims, with riders jettisoned out the back of the peloton – including Wout van Aert. That’s the end of his hopes of wearing the red jersey.

The break’s day-long truce is over, and Hellemose has upped the pace to try and drop the others. The only men who have gone with him are Cort and Wenzel, with Hayter, Le Gac and Roosen dropped, and surely soon to find themselves caught by the peloton.

Pogačar’s still got five UAE teammates with him as they lead the bunch. Three three riders dropped from the breakaway have been caught by them, but Cort, Hellemose and Wenzel are still out there, 30 seconds ahead. There’s still 10 whole kilometres to ride to get to the top of the climb, though.

Wenzel has attacked Cort and Hellemose, managing to drop the latter, while the former just about clings on. For his efforts, Cort has been awarded the day’s combativity award by by the organisers.

UAE still lead the peloton, which is riding steadily. But things might be about to get complicated – the heavens have opened.

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Cort has now been dropped by Wenzel, and joins Hellemose by being caught by the peloton, still being led by the train of UAE riders.

Wenzel is still out there though, and with a healthy lead of 47 seconds. With 6.5km to the top, and no signs of any GC attacks yet, can he stay out long enough to gain the KOM jersey?

It’s raining heavily, to the extent that there are signalling issues, and no television coverage as they continue to climb the Col de Mont-Louis.

We’ve had a first attack from the peloton on the climb – Lorenzo Fortunato of Astana has made a move. He’s still got some ground to make up on Wenzel, however, who is 17 seconds ahead of him, while the peloton is also about 17 seconds behind the Italian.

Fortunato has bridged up to Wenzel, and they lead by just over 20 seconds, nearing the top of the summit. The rain is pouring now, this is horrible weather to race in.

RACE NEUTRALISED

Extraordinary scenes here at the Vuelta! The riders are now being pelted by hailstones from the sky. It’s so horrible that the riders are seeking shelter at the roadside. The race has been neutralised.

The race has been temporarily neutralised rather than cancelled, as so for now the plan appears to be to get started again at some point. For now, though, the riders are all being shuffled into a hotel on the roadside, many of them visibly very cold. These are chaotic scenes.

These were the riders further down the mountain, though this picture doesn’t do justice to just how severe the hailstorms became.

STAGE CANCELLED

Unfortunately, the conditions and situation has been deemed severe enough for the stage to be cancelled.

It was Tadej Pogačar himself who took the initiative to stop the race, adopting the role of peloton’s patron. Read more about the unfolding story here.

Tadej Pogačar pulls over peloton as hail storm cancels finale of Vuelta a España stage 3

The hail was so heavy and thick that it resembled snow on the road. You can understand why the call was made for the stage to be cancelled.

The scene at the finish line, populated by workers mopping up the hailstones, rather than riders racing for the victory

Thanks for joining us today, for a truncated day three of the Vuelta a España! For the full lowdown of what happened, be sure to read our stage report, and check the website for more updates.

While that was supposed to be the first climbing test, and therefore GC sort-out of the race, instead we’ll get our first glimpse of who’s climbing best tomorrow, for a stage in Andorra which is truly monstrous so early in a Grand Tour, featuring no less than three category one summits. As always we’ll bring you all the action here on Cyclingnews.