Tour de France halted after hailstorm hits Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to Tignes stage (VIDEO)

The 19th stage of the 2019 Tour de France has been brought to a standstill after a torrential hailstorm forced the race to be cut short during the riders' journey from Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to Tignes.

The hail on the route was so bad it forced race organizers to call a premature stop to the stage before the riders reached the treacherous conditions.

The official Twitter account of the race alerted fans, saying: "The day's course has been called due to adverse weather conditions, rider times have been taken at Col de l'Iseran."

There were angry responses from the riders as they were alerted to the decision to stop the race, with riders who had held back in the Peloton in order to set up a strong finish set to lose out on the back-counted standings taken from the top of Col de l'Iseran.

In addition to the hail, mudslides also saw portions of the route completely cut off as gallons of flowing mud flowed across parts of the course.

The official Tour de France website confirmed the adjusted overall standings, taking into account the time bonuses at Col d'Iseran to produce the following top five, with Egan Bernal holding a 45-second lead.

1. Egan Bernal
2. Julian Alaphilippe +0:45
3. Geraint Thomas +1:03
4. Steven Kruijswijk +1:15
5. Emanuel Buchmann +1:42