Five of the cycling teams competing in this year's edition of the Volta a Catalunya are snowed in at the Port Ainé ski resort, jeopardising the fourth stage that starts in Tremp and ends in Ascó.

Saxo Bank, Omega Pharma-Quickstep, AG2R, Katusha and FDJ-Big Mat are all currently snowed in at Port Ainé, where they spent the night in a hotel.

The president of the Volta a Catalunya, Rubén Peris, gave assurances this morning that he was doing everything possible to make sure these teams could make it to the starting point at 12.25pm in Tremp (Lleida).

"We have got machinery in there clearing the snow away", Peris told journalists.  He confirmed that the start of the stage would be postponed until the snowed-in teams got there.

Yesterday's stage of the Volta had to be shortened because of the snow - being reduced from 210 km to 155 km, to avoid the final stretch in Port Ainé, which was impassable.