Today's 224,9km queen stage of the Vuelta a Espana takes place in cold and rainy conditions and like yesterday, many riders have already left the race. World champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC) has decided to head home to prepare for the world championships.

Yesterday's dramatic Vuelta a Espana stage in the Pyrenees was held in cold, rainy conditions and saw a mass exodus. No less than 14 riders left the race, many of those due to hypothermia.

Today's stage is even longer and the weather conditions haven't improved at all. Unsurprisingly, this had led to a continuation of the exodus with 4 riders having left the race during the opening part of the stage.

The most prominent withdrawal comes from world champion Philippe Gilbert who was one of the main actors yesterday when he made it into the break and finished 15th on the stage. Apparently, the Belgian has chosen to head home to concentrate on his preparations for the world championships and avoid any further risks in the cold conditions. He will line up in the GP de Wallonie on September 18 which will be his last race in the rainbow jersey before his title defence.

A couple of sprinters have also left the race. Graeme Brown is the 5th Belkin rider to leave the race while Baden Cooke is the 4th from Orica-GreenEdge. Young Luke Rowe (Sky) has been forced to step into the team car, having suffered from illness in recent days while Daniel Schorn (NetApp) is the most recent to give up. Sprinter Tomoasz Marczynski didn't take the start as he woke up with a fever, leaving his Vacansoleil team with just 4 riders.

Yesterday, Ivan Basso and Luis-Leon Sanchez left the race due to hypothermia while Steve Chainel, Ramon Sinkeldam, Cyril Bessy, Michel Kreder, Nick Nuyens, Greg Henderson, Jurgen Van De Walle, Jelle Vanendert, Haimar Zubeldia, Roman Kreuziger, Wout Poels and Lieuwe Westra all succumbed to the cold conditions.

Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow stage 15 on CyclingQuotes.com/live.