Primoš Roglic, who, as has been repeated many times before, has a knack for jumping off mountain slopes, took the opportunity to climb up them after finishing third in stage 9 of the Vuelta a España.

Outside the temporary changing rooms near the finish line in Cortals-Dunkamp, a TV crew watched the Jumbo-Visma leader.

Instead, they avoided the waiting reporters altogether by creating an impromptu exit route up a steep grassy slope like a gecko to the cable car station.

Logrich has always been a reticent reporter, but on this day he fell on the gravel road leading from the final climb of the Alto de Engolaster to the base of the short final climb to the Coltals Dunkamp.

The crash was followed by a severe hailstorm in the stage finale, which caused television coverage to be briefly interrupted in the last 10 km. In fact, the conditions were so severe that Jumbo Visma's sport director, Adi Engels, could not even communicate with the riders over the radio.

When Engels spoke to Cycling News near the finish area, he was still trying to fill in the gaps in his knowledge of the afternoon's developments.

By the time Roglic got going again, the Movistar duo of Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde had pulled away. However, he caught up to Valverde on the final climb and passed Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), who had also fallen, to close the gap to Quintana.

Roglic eventually finished third, 48 seconds behind stage winner Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) and 25 seconds behind Quintana. In the overall standings, Logrese is in second place overall, 6 seconds behind Quintana, 11 seconds behind Lopez, and 14 seconds behind Valverde.

"I think it's a good final result, but I'm still a little confused about what was going on at one point because I didn't get the overview when it was hailing," Engels told Cycling News.

"I couldn't hear anything on the radio and I couldn't talk much in the car. The bike was blocking the road and I heard there was a small crash with Primosch, but I don't know. In the end, if you look at the finish, I think we rode well today.

The opening week of the Vuelta concluded with a short but grueling leg in the Pyrenees, with five mountains packed into just 94.4 km.

Roglic had teammates Sepp Kuss, Roberto Gesink, and Nielson Powles in the early break, ready to provide assistance as needed in the three-part finale leading to the summit of the Cortals d'Encampment.

"We wanted to get at least one up there, but it was a pretty big group early on.

The strategy of having Gesink, Powles, and Kuss fall back in turn to help Roglic seemed sensible, but a late fall and subsequent chase by the Slovenian changed the course of his day. Kuss was still with Roglic when he fell, but like the others, he apparently did not see the fall itself.

"He had a little accident with his bike at the beginning of the gravel section. 'I was leading that corner, so I don't know what they were doing on the inside of the corner.

The Vuelta's entry into Andorra was a big mess. No further equipment was needed for the 3,330 meters of total climbing distance, but hail and a fallen rider (Lopez also fell) made the day even tougher. After that, however, the entire race was much the same. On Sunday morning, the gap between the four leading riders was 27 seconds, but despite the commotion, that gap has now been reduced to 20 seconds.

"Quintana was in front, Lopez was in front," said Lopez. But at one moment Primozh had to get away by himself. Then it was one on one, and luckily Primosch still had something left."

As the Vuelta entered its first rest day, Roglic remained within striking distance of the Mayo Rojo. The crash was frustrating, but it could have been much worse.

"Considering the moment before the final climb, this was a good result," Engels said.