Tour de France Stage 3 runs without spectators amid wildfire threat

sportsJul 6, 202615104

Stage three of the 2026 Tour de France ran from Granollers to Les Angles over 195.9 km but the French portion, the final roughly 44 kilometres including the Col du Calvaire and the climb to Les Angles, was held without spectators because wildfires were raging in the eastern Pyrenees. Tour director Christian Prudhomme said the decision, taken Sunday afternoon with state authorities, was to limit the road to riders and essential organisation vehicles and asked the public not to come to the roadside or the finish. Organisers also removed the publicity caravan from the French section of the stage. The route still featured almost 4,000 metres of climbing overall, making it a medium mountain day that could suit breakaways even if teams such as UAE Team Emirates-XRG may push a hard pace for leaders like Tadej Pogacar. The stage started at 11:10 BST and was expected to finish at 15:54 BST, with forecasts of very high temperatures later in the week heightening concerns about fire and heat risk for the race.

Damian Carrington

@dpcarrington.bsky.social

#Wildfires rage across southern Europe, forcing thousands to flee homes - Tour de France spectator ban as country along with Spain, Portugal and Greece faces ‘powder keg’ after heatwave www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

273h ago

RTÉ News

@news.rte.ie

Wildfires are continuing to rage across southern Europe, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting officials to ban spectators from a stage of the storied Tour de France cycling race

76h ago

Robin A Weston

@robinbike.bsky.social

Tour de France braced for historic stage cancellations in European heatwave. “It’s something that’s very much on our mind,” said Thierry Gouvenou, the Tour’s technical director. The risk is real during this year’s race with 44C again predicted for some regions in France.

32h ago

Le Monde

@lemonde.fr

Tour de France 2026 : le parcours de la troisième étape (Granollers-Les Angles)

77h ago

Tim Bonville-Ginn

@timbonvilleginn.bsky.social

Cian Uijtdebroeks 🇧🇪 is having a nightmare start to this Tour de France 🇫🇷

102h ago

Ken Childs

@thekenchilds.com

Always enjoy the first few weeks of July: Wake up and the Tour de France is on for the next few hours.

101h ago

Domestique

@domestiquecycling.com

No spectators will be permitted at the roadside for the final 40km of stage 3 of the 🇫🇷 Tour de France to Les Angles due to wildfires in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. There will also be no publicity caravan on the French portion of the stage. 📰 domestiquecycling.com/en/news/wild... 📸 Cor Vos

44h ago

Le Monde in English

@english.lemonde.fr

Tour de France's third stage to go ahead without spectators due to wildfires

44h ago

brittstgt

@brittstgt.bsky.social

"In den betroffenen Regionen findet die Tour de France deshalb ohne Publikum statt"? Wer erklärt mir, wie das gehen soll?

85h ago

Krustinaut1

Habe irgendwo gelesen, finde die Quelle nicht mehr, dass es wegen den Retrungswegen und Anfahrtswegen der Rettungskräfte freigehalten wird. Der Radtross ist nach 10 Minuten weg. Das Publikum steht oft bereits Stunden davor an der Strecke.

Dr. Pinguin1

Die Leute die sonst vom Bürgermeister einen Platz auf der Start Ziel Tribüne bekommen haben müssen jetzt Ihre Beziehungen spielen lassen um die, die an der Strecke campieren abschleppen zu lassen damit sie da selbst hin können. (Warst du schon mal in Frankreich?)

European Environment Agency

@eea.europa.eu

10,000 people fled their homes in southern France this week as wildfires spread across Europe. 95% of Europe's wildfires are caused by human activity so preventable. EEA data on who is exposed 👇https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/observatory/publications-data/analysis-data/exposure-to-burnt-areas