{"id":206114,"date":"2026-08-25T09:56:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=206114"},"modified":"2026-08-25T09:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:56:06","slug":"pogacar-leads-vuelta-as-summer-storm-forces-cancellation-of-stage-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/08\/25\/pogacar-leads-vuelta-as-summer-storm-forces-cancellation-of-stage-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar Leads Vuelta as Summer Storm Forces Cancellation of Stage 3\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The overwhelming favourite to win the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, Tadej Poga\u010dar, took hold of the race leader&#8217;s red jersey on stage 1 by a cat&#8217;s whisker and seems intent on wearing it for the rest of the race, as a violent summer thunderstorm accompanied by hail forced organisers to cancel Monday&#8217;s stage 3.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><b>A fierce storm and hail the size of marbles<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG leader and the peloton were chasing two breakaway riders on the penultimate climb of the day, the Col de Mont-Louis (21.4 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> @ 4.8%), about 24 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the finish line, when the black clouds opened<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and heavy rains pelted the course. The storm was accompanied by fierce thunder and lightning that knocked out the TV transmission, so that broadcasters and viewers were completely in the dark.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The TV images returned 10 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> later, just in time to see a downpour of large hailstones force trailing riders to take shelter in a nearby hotel, while Poga\u010dar directed the peloton to do the same. Images from the finish line showed a blanket of hail covering the road. That in itself would have made the 6 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> descent from the summit impossible, if not downright suicidal. About 10 minutes later, word came from race <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">organisers<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the stage had been <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cancelled<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the security of the riders, stage three has been cancelled due to hail and severe weather,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the statement read. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There will be no winner and no podium ceremony.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Later, the UCI race jury said in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/vuelta-a-espana\/ethan-hayter-vuelta-race-jury-sprint-points\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cThe decision was taken due to a significant deterioration in weather conditions during the stage, including poor visibility, strong winds and icy road conditions. After consultation with the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">organisers<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the President of the Commissaires Panel decided that the results of the intermediate sprint and the mountain sprint <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> cancelled.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s tempting to say that this event was one more piece of evidence that climate change is more and more affecting our lives. But a summer afternoon thunderstorm is not unusual for the high-altitude French Pyrenees in late August. On the other hand, the intensity, rapid onset, and size of the hail were exceptional. Let&#8217;s hope that this is a one-off for the race and that the remaining 18 stages will come off without problems. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/weather\/3041563\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">weather forecast<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for Wednesday&#8217;s stage 4 in Andorra calls for sunny, dry weather.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With no times being taken, Poga\u010dar remained race leader, 9 seconds ahead of Wout van Aert, with van Aert&#8217;s Visma\u2013Lease a Bike teammate Matthew Brennan in third, at 10 seconds, thanks to his stunning stage 2 victory.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_206116\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-206116\" style=\"width: 990px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Storm-profimedia-1128228759.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-206116 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Storm-profimedia-1128228759.webp\" alt=\"La Vuelta Storm\" width=\"990\" height=\"660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Storm-profimedia-1128228759.webp 990w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Storm-profimedia-1128228759-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Storm-profimedia-1128228759-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Storm-profimedia-1128228759-400x267.webp 400w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2026\/08\/Vuelta-Storm-profimedia-1128228759-272x182.webp 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-206116\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stage three of the 2026 La Vuelta has been cancelled due to hail and severe weather. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><b>First Grand Tour sprint, first Grand Tour victory<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 21-year-old Brennan showed absolutely no sign of nervousness on his Grand Tour debut and destroyed his rivals in an uphill bunch sprint that suggests that the club of superlative WorldTour sprinters has a new and impressive member.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 202.1 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Sunday&#8217;s stage 2 from Monaco to Monasque exploded with 1.9 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> left to ride when van Aert burst out of the peloton, followed closely by Poga\u010dar. They were caught in the final <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">kilometre<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as the sprinters&#8217; teams sent their lead-outs to the front. But Brennan left Pau Miquel (Bahrain Victorious), Poga\u010dar and Lidl-Trek&#8217;s Mads Pedersen without the ghost of a chance in the sprint, crossing the line about 15 meters ahead of Miquel. Poga\u010dar finished third.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We started off with the ambition of trying to get Wout in the red jersey today, and we said there&#8217;s a nice opportunity to attack in the final, and Wout was really keen to do that,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Brennan said afterwards. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we had that plan, and I was always going to be in the background to sprint in case that sat up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&#8217;s exactly what happened; the guys in front sat up, Christophe [Laporte] did a great job of guiding me all the way through the hecticness of that, and I&#8217;m super happy to finish it off. Hopefully it&#8217;s not the last one.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visma&#8217;s tactics thwarted Poga\u010dar, who said he was going for another win.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was really all-in for the stage win,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he told TNT Sports. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I had to try to be up there and just follow the accelerations.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> That forced him to go after van Aert.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He opened up a nice gap,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the five-time Tour de France winner said. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I really had to put the power down [to catch him]. He looked around, and that&#8217;s when I was able to jump onto his wheel. I should have committed fully if I wanted to have a chance of winning. But we also had Matthew Brennan behind us, so I didn&#8217;t know what to do.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> How often has Poga\u010dar said that?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He then decided to stay on van Aert&#8217;s wheel, hoping that he would continue racing to the finish line. But he didn&#8217;t. Instead, he sat up, Laporte dragged Brennan to the front and it was no contest after that, as even Poga\u010dar had no chance. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was already quite a lot of lactate in my legs by then,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he said. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the end, I&#8217;m happy to finish third.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The stage was a disappointment for Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), who was part of a four-rider breakaway, which he dropped to take 6 bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint 38 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the finish line. This put him in the virtual race lead, but his habit of riding at the back of the peloton cost him when the race accelerated at the end, and he was left behind. He finished 80th, 31 seconds adrift of the winner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a hard final for someone that&#8217;s been in the breakaway,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he said. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And even for the positioning, I didn&#8217;t have the legs to really move any further forward than I was. It&#8217;s a shame, but it was nice to try.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>An emotional and dramatic time trial<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poga\u010dar broke British hearts on Saturday&#8217;s opening stage of the race when, riding next to last, he beat Hayter by a mere 0:09 (or 9\/100 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">second) on the tricky 9.4 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">km<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> course through Monaco. Hayter himself had ruined a British storybook ending when he beat Josh Tarling by 4 seconds, after the Netcompany INEOS fast man had taken the lead just nine days after his 19-year-old brother, Finlay, was tragically killed while racing in the Volta a Portugal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The younger Tarling was riding behind the peloton when a car was mistakenly allowed on the route and struck him head-on. Discussions about route safety have since been carried out, while Josh Tarling has been universally praised for riding in the Vuelta. Poga\u010dar was out on the course when Tarling held the lead, and he said it gave him mixed feelings. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I was going to give my best, but it was kind of a strange moment,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he said. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was really rooting for Josh as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was an impressive performance by Tarling, who also lost his grandfather last week. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Obviously, it\u2019s just been unimaginable what he\u2019s gone through the last week or so,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> INEOS team manager Geraint Thomas told TNT Sports. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But to put in a performance like that at the end of the week he\u2019s had is just fantastic, really. It just shows the class of him as an athlete and a person, really. We couldn\u2019t be prouder.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for Poga\u010dar, he said that living in Monaco helped him win. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was on a good day<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and I was motivated because I live here and the course passed where I go every day with a bike or walking,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he said. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a big confidence boost because I knew every corner really well, so I did not need to take any risks. I was comfortable through the technical parts, and after every corner I felt good. There was no real pacing strategy; it was just like going all out on this 10-minute effort with a lot of corners.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result put several of his GC rivals already on the back foot, with Carlos Rodr\u00edguez (Netcompany INEOS) 27 seconds behind, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) at 29 seconds, Richard Carapaz (EF Education\u2013EasyPost), 33 seconds adrift<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) at 50 seconds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Race over?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The overwhelming favourite to win the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, Tadej Poga\u010dar, took hold of the race leader&#8217;s red jersey on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":206118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[7810,7374,479,9103,3415,831],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-206114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-2026-la-vuelta","tag-josh-tarling","tag-la-vuelta","tag-matthew-brennan","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-wout-van-aert","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - 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