There was chaos and emotion as the riders refused to race on at Tre Valli Varesine (1.Pro) in Italy today. The peloton protested but also clearly had sympathy for the race organiser as he realised the event was being brought to a halt.
The rider protest - due to heavy rain and flooding on the course - was led by new world champion, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). He stepped up as patron to explain the riders' concerns to the officials when the bunch stopped on the start-finish line on the circuit.
Once it became clear the action was drawing to a close, the Visma-Lease a Bike riders were the first to push off towards the warmth of the their team bus. One of the race organisers became visibly upset, though he seemed resigned to the issues the riders were raising.
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Pogačar could be seen hugging him while former world champion Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost) also consoled him as his Irish team mates, Ben Healy and Archie Ryan, looked on. In the end, just under 60km was raced before the riders downed tools.
The bunch stopped in Varese after three laps of the circuit were completed, clearly not happy to continue racing. Two laps had already been shaved from the race distance, bringing it down from 200.3km to 168.3km.
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"We tried to race and did a good race until we could. Then on the last lap, on the downhill, I was in second position behind Covi and we couldn't see where we were going," Pogačar said, though adding he could see the race organiser was emotional, though he was also reasonable.
"Everybody wanted to stop. It was just a matter of time about when some guy would crash. When there's standing water, it's not good. We understand the organisers - that they want to race - but in the end the riders made the right decision not to.
"We are sad for the race to not continue, but it's like this. We talked with the organisers, luckily everybody was reasonable. I could see how heavy it was for the boss of the organisation. There were tears in his eyes.
"This race means a lot to them and it's a beautiful race, but when you can't race you can't. They understood that immediately. I'm really thankful for that and happy that they decided to end the race."
