Race organisers at the Volta ao Algarve took full responsibility for the signalling error that led to the opening stage being cancelled after a significant number of the peloton were sent off course in the final kilometre.
The split in the peloton led to chaotic scenes, with riders reacting with a mixture of anger and disappointment at the events that ended with no stage winner or overall leader.
Initial celebrations for Filippo Ganna finally concluded with the Italian leaving the finish area visibly annoyed at how he had raced correctly, only to be deprived of the victory.
Organisers insisted that they had the same information and infrastructure as other years, but said that they should have worked better to prevent the stage 1 finale from unravelling in such dramatic fashion.
The absence of injuries or crashes in the finale thankfully meant the finish did not have even more serious consequences, particularly as the stage was due to end in a bunch sprint.
But the mistake and subsequent annulment of the stage nonetheless represented a massive embarrassment for the organisers - particularly as the Algarve was declared the 'best event of the ProSeries races of 2024' last year.
"The president of the commissaires college cancelled the stage, and that is more than logical, it is fair, natural and the right way to continue with the Volta ao Algarve," the visibly upset head race organiser and Portuguese Cycling Federation president Candido Barbosa told reporters.
"The organization made a mistake, the images are there. We have a yellow flag there that didn't act in time. The cyclists are coming at high speed, maybe there should have been two," he said
"We started off badly. This failure ruined everything. I have no words for more."
Barbosa pointed out that there could have been points earlier in the stage where the race could have been suspended and then begun again. But coming so close to the finish, that wasn't possible or practical a point also made by the UCI commissaires.
"There are two or three moments where you could go back, but as he says, it's not logical. Shall we repeat the sprint? It's not logical. If it was in the middle of the stage, we could do it. Shall we do it again? It cannot happen.
"The last point of the regulation still says that we could also determine the winner at the intermediate point at kilometre 3 [from the finish]. But the president of the commissaires is the final decision maker. We just have to agree.
"We will hold a formal ceremony to determine the virtual winner, and tomorrow everyone will start from scratch. Tomorrow [Thursday], the Volta ao Algarve begins."
The organisation later issued an official statement:
"The College of Commissaires of the 51st Volta ao Algarve has taken the decision to cancel the first stage of the race. On the approach to the finish line in Lagos, the peloton became divided and a large number of the riders took the wrong route, followed the detour of the support cars and missed the finish line.
“The College of Commissaires interpreted the regulations and, given what happened, decided to cancel the stage because they considered that sporting truth did not prevail in the end. All the technical information was clear that the riders should go left at the last roundabout. The fact is that some of them took the right, in a lane parallel to the finish line. It was a wrong decision by the peloton but it's clear that we didn't do enough to avoid this outcome, which we very much regret,” explained Sérgio Sousa, director of the Volta ao Algarve.
"In view of the stage's neutralization, the peloton will set off this Thursday for the 2nd stage of the Volta ao Algarve with the clock reset to zero. The stage links Lagoa to Alto da Fóia (Monchique), covering 177.6 kilometres."
