Miguel Angel Lopez's bloodied arms and muddy kit were telling as he crossed the finish line of stage 9 of the Vuelta a España at the Cortals d'Encampment.

The Astana rider was attacking 0.5 minutes ahead of his direct rivals when a fierce hailstorm hit in the final 10 km and interrupted the TV coverage. When the coverage resumed, he crashed on the gravel section before the finish line and was overtaken by his rivals.

"On the gravel section with a kilometer and a half to go, I went into a corner really fast. 'The bike started to slide and I fell to the ground. The bike slid out and fell to the ground. It could have been a lot worse.

Lopez finished the stage in ninth place, 1:01 behind solo winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), but also ahead of Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and the Movistar duo of Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana. They entered the first rest day of the Vuelta in fourth place overall.

When Lopez jumped out on the Alto de la Comella with 20 km to go, of course, it initially looked as if he was destined to take his fourth maillot rojo in this Vuelta, and on his second acceleration he passed Roglic, Valverde, and Quintana, chasing the early breakaway alone.

On the following Alto de Engolasters, Astana teammates Gorka Izaguirre and Jacob Fuglsang dropped back in sequence to help Lopez pick up the pace, and as leaden rain began to fall, Lopez's buffer was extended to 40 seconds. Eventually the rain turned to hail, and the toughest stage of the Vuelta so far took on an even tougher aspect.

On a section of dirt road between the top of Engolaster and the base of the day's final climb, Lopez's offensive came to a halt when his wheel slipped out from under him. Lopez's career has been marked by crashes, from a training wreck in which he suffered a broken tibia to an absurd collision with a fan at this year's Giro d'Italia.

"Fortunately I didn't get seriously hurt, but I lost time and my rivals were closing in on me," he said. But the gravel and mud damaged my bike and there was nowhere to change it. All I could do was stay with them as long as I could. But of course I had other plans."

Lopez stayed in the white jersey for best young rider and, despite his hardships, was all smiles in the mixed zone after the stage. When asked if he thought the commissaires might have ordered the stage to be suspended when hail hit the peaks of Andorra, he nodded.

"I don't know. My arm still looks shot," Lopez said. 'It was dangerous, but at least we didn't get hit by a storm on the way down. There was a lot of hail coming down and the bike was sliding, but we made it through."