Victoria's bushfire crisis forced the cancellation of the last stage in the Herald Sun Tour, leaving Australian cyclist Simon Clarke as the overall winner.
There was no direct fire threat to Sunday's fourth stage at Arthurs Seat on the Mornington Peninsula, but police and fire services had to be diverted from the race to other areas.
Less than an hour before the scheduled 2.30pm start, race organisers had no choice but to call off the 124-kilometre stage.
"It's unfortunate we couldn't race, but obviously safety is the priority and when people's houses are burning, it's much more important than holding a bike race," Clarke said.
"Everyone understands that was the right decision."
It is understood to be the first time in the tour's 61-year history that such circumstances have forced a stage to be cancelled.
Last month, Adelaide's Tour Down Under organisers said they might have to cancel the opening stage because of a fire near the Barossa race route.
But the fire was brought under control and the stage went ahead without disruption.
Race director John Trevorrow, a long-time cycling promoter, was philosophical but clearly disappointed.
Clarke led fellow Australian Cameron Wurf by eight seconds and the tour was set for an exciting finish.
While Clarke and his powerful Orica-GreenEDGE team probably would have prevailed, the three climbs up the tough Arthurs Seat and the summit finish would have made it interesting.
"People's safety comes first," Trevorrow said.
"I was standing here five minutes ago and those trees (at the finish line) were almost touching the ground.
"You curse your luck."
Regardless of Sunday's cancellation, Clarke was a deserving winner.
He took the race lead by winning Friday's second stage as Orica-GreenEDGE continued their strong start to the year.
Teammate Simon Gerrans won last month's Australian road title and the Tour Down Under.
"On Friday, I showed I was here with really good form," Clarke said.
"I was in a pretty position coming into today anyway and I had a really strong team behind me.
"Unfortunately, there wasn't the showdown we were hoping for, but we were pretty confident we could keep it under control.
"I try to look at the positives - I won the bike race and I'm happy."
This is the first Herald Sun Tour title for Clarke, who was seventh at last year's world road championships and also won the king of the mountains two years ago at the Tour of Spain.
Wurf (Cannondale) was also happy, despite not having one last chance to challenge Clarke.
"It's disappointing, more for the fans than for me,'' he said.
"If you'd said at the start of the tour that I could have second place, eight seconds down on Simon Clarke, I would have thought that was a great result."
