'It's a joke' - Stage cancelled after peloton goes wrong way in bizarre Volta ao Algarve sprint finish

Filippo Ganna pointed to the sky in both celebration and disbelief as he rode solo across the line on stage one of the Volta ao Algarve, the rest of the peloton dashing down the wrong side of the barriers on the finishing straight.

The race commissaires later cancelled the stage, declaring no winner, after the leading bunch followed the camera motorbikes along the deviation, off the course, but parallel to the finish line.

The incident happened in the final kilometre, and those who took the wrong exit – the majority of the first 50 riders – ended up being diverted around the finish gantry, and straight to the team buses.

Ganna was one of a handful who took the correct turning, seizing upon his opportunity to charge alone across the line.

Almost three hours after the incident, the Volta ao Algarve published a statement, in which the race director, Sérgio Sousa, explained the stage was cancelled because "the sporting truth did not prevail in the end".

"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," he said.

"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.”

The final 2km of Wednesday's opening stage of the Volta ao Algarve offered two large roundabouts to navigate, the second of which led the peloton astray.

Despite late efforts from on-ground marshals to point the bunch in the right direction, those riding at the front instinctively followed the race vehicles off the course.

Ganna was originally asked in his post-race interview to explain what happened, but returned a confused expression. "Everyone took the wrong way, and I took the [correct] one," he said. "You need to know the rules, you need to know the parcours. It's the rules for the riders. In the past, I've taken the wrong way during a TT, and I lost the race."

Following the stage's cancellation, and the chalking off of Ganna's victory, the Italian's Ineos Grenadiers team posted on X: "Cycling is tough. Some days you win but most you lose.

"We’re thankful that today everyone finished safely, but let’s use this opportunity to continue to shine a light on making the best sport in the world a safer one."

Confusion reigned after the finish line in Lagos moments after the stage finished. Tudor Pro Cycling's Marco Haller questioned the lack of direction in the closing moments, saying it was "just poor".

"You could see that on the last kilometre, the deviation wasn’t blocked by the officials, and then obviously when the riders were coming, they followed the motorbikes, like they always do," Haller told Eurosport.

"For me, it’s pretty ridiculous, because we suffer 190km to put ourselves in the perfect position, and then it’s basically everything for nothing. It’s a joke. It’s something where there need to be consequences for the officials, for the organisers, because it cannot always be the riders who are blamed."

In a statement issued by Visma-Lease a Bike, sports director Arthur van Dongen called on the UCI to "wake up please".

"This was embarrassing," Van Dongen said. "Professional cycling is making a very bad impression with this situation. Rider safety must be the top priority. And that has been seriously lacking here.

"Fortunately, no serious accidents occurred, but this could have ended very badly. This is unacceptable."

The race will continue on Thursday with a summit finish to Alto da Foia. The sprinters are likely to be able to make amends on stage three, which brings a flat finish into Tavira.