Five times riders got soaked like stage six of the Vuelta a España

Stage six of the Vuelta a España produced a downpour of seismic proportions, with torrential rain affecting visibility on the summit finish of Pico Jano and throughout the majority of the race.

Ultimately, the mist and rain ruined Jay Vine's (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finish line celebratory shot, too, the Australian's arguable career-defining moment thus far not captured due to the cameras only managing to make out a silhouette through the weather. 

Riders crossed the line drenched from helmet to toe, with plenty needing towels wrapped around them immediately after the finish to dry the excess water off their bodies. 

This isn't the first time rain has heavily affected a stage, though, and rest assured, it certainly won't be the last. Listed below are five other times the peloton has been soaked while riding a WorldTour race. 

Giro d'Italia 2018, stage eight

Stage eight of the 2018 Giro d'Italia started in Praia a Mare with bright blue skies and dry roads, but 209km later on the mid-mountain stage, it was anything but. 

Richard Carapaz, riding for Movistar, won the stage, finishing solo at Montevergine following a late attack on the summit finish. He became the first Ecuadorian to win a Grand Tour stage in the process, on a day which gave way to showers in the final 20km. 

As the rain started to pour in southern Italy, the break's gap gradually started to come down as the standing water became increasingly more difficult to deal with. Soon, though, not even the peloton maintained their advantage in the rain, as conditions became ever more treacherous. Indeed, Team Sky's Chris Froome slid out on a hairpin 5km from the finish line, hitting the deck for the second time in the race due to the changeable conditions. 

Tour de France 2016, stage nine

Mountain stages are synonymous with immediate weather changes, and nowhere more so is this evident than on stage nine of the 2016 Tour de France. 

With less than 20km remaining on the day, the break reached the foot of the hors catégorie Andorre Arcalis climb in the sunshine, which was just as quickly replaced with a deluge of rain and hail as Tom Dumoulin's solo attack up the mountain, 12km from the finish. Dumoulin powered away from his rivals in the downpour, crossing the line drenched but in understandably elated spirits. 

Further back, riders bowed their heads against the elements lashing down upon them, eager to just finish the stage and wrap a towel around their sodden clothing. 

Giro d'Italia 2020, stage 19

As the saying goes: when it rains, it pours.

Or, at least, that's what would've happened on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia, if it had actually gone ahead as planned. 

Instead, with a rain-soaked route, organisers were forced to shorten the stage by 100km, after riders refused to ride the entire 258km course. The CPA riders' union claimed the stage was too long to ride in the rain, stating it would hamper riders' immune systems and increase their chances of getting infected with Covid.

As a result, riders were driven the first 100km of the stage in their team buses, before completing the final 150km to the finish in Asti. Josef Černý of CCC won the stage with a solo attack, the last win for the short-lived Polish WorldTour squad.

Tour de France 2000, stage ten

Stage ten of the 2000 Tour de France is a memorable one, although not necessarily for all the right reasons. On the Hautacam summit finish, Lance Armstrong set up his now-disqualified overall victory by surging past his fierce rivals Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani on the climb to take control of the yellow jersey. 

In appalling weather, the race arrived at the first mountain stage with Javier Otxoa surviving from an early break to take the victory. Armstrong finished 42 seconds back in an iconic ride - for multiple reasons - heading up the sharp Hautacam incline solo, being attacked all the while by the brutal elements rather than his fellow competitors. 

Tirreno-Adriatico 2013, stage six

On a day that had started out sunny, the heavy rains which had featured earlier in the race returned on stage six, making a difficult course even more challenging as a result. 

Short and vicious climbs featured throughout the stage, leading to many riders deciding to abandon rather than risk injury or illness in the slippery conditions. 

Peter Sagan topped a three-man breakaway with GC contenders Vincenzo Nibali and Joaquim Rodriguez, before sprinting to the stage win. Afterwards, he explained just how difficult riding in the rain was, especially over the incredibly steep inclines.

"It was a very hard stage," said Sagan. "When the rain started to fall, the gradients of 30% were hard to get up. I heard Contador say that when he climbed out of the saddle, his back wheel slipped. I rode in the saddle all the time and, in the end, I got away with Vincenzo and stayed away to the finish line."