As was forecast, there was snowfall in the Ardennes on Sunday, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège had to be re-routed as a result.
As team cars made their way along the route out towards the feed zones, they encountered roads covered in a blanket of snow, with the snow continuing to fall amid the poor visibility.
At around 11:30am local time, an hour or so into the race, organisers took the decision to alter the route to avoid the worst of the snow. At kilometre 45, the riders were taken off the planned route and they joined it again at kilometre 75, just before the first climb of the day, the Côte de La Roche-en-Ardenne. The race headed south in a more direct manner, and the change took five kilometres off the total distance, meaning that the 2016 Liège-Bastogne-Liège was 248km long.
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The change didn't have a significant impact on the complexion of the race, given that the riders were back on the planned course ahead of the first climb.
The snowfall at Liège has echoes of similar situations at Paris-Nice and Tirreno Adriatico last month, both of which had stages altered or cancelled. The new Extreme Weather Protocol was brought in this season to help decisions to be made in the best interests of riders when adverse conditions threaten. Under the Protocol's guidelines, the threat of extreme weather calls for a meeting between a rider representative and race officials to discuss possible courses of action.
The CPA (riders' association) representative for Liège-Bastogne-Liège is Kristof Vandewalle, but the Belgian was unable to be at the race, so former pro Cristian Salvato, who works with the Italian riders' association, stepped in to take responsibility. Vandewalle told Cyclingnews he received numerous calls from teams this morning saying they were confused about the situation, with snow having been predicted and the temperature at the start in the Place Saint Lambert just above freezing.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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