UPDATE: Stage 3 of 2026 Tour de France to go ahead without spectators as wildfire emergency forces major restrictions

Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de France is under serious threat, with officials set to decide by the end of Sunday whether Monday’s first mountain test can go ahead amid a major wildfire emergency in the Pyrenees-Orientales.

The 195.9km stage is scheduled to start in Granollers, Spain, before crossing into southern France and finishing at Les Angles. Instead of a straightforward first climbing appointment for Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and the rest of the GC contenders, the day is now caught up in a live safety crisis.

A major fire in the department has already burned around 1,500 hectares and is reported to be around 70 kilometres from Les Angles, where the stage is due to finish at approximately 17:00 local time.

Pyrenees-Orientales prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe confirmed on Sunday that the situation was being reviewed before a final call on the stage. “This is an issue we are working on this afternoon. We will be able to make a decision by the end of the day,” he said during a press briefing.

The fire has already forced the closure of the main road allowing access from the coast to Monday’s Tour route. The prefect said the decision had been taken both to support the emergency response and to protect the public.

“It is closed first of all because we need to make the work of the emergency services easier,” he said. “Secondly, we need to preserve the safety of road users themselves.”

Asked whether the road would remain closed on Monday, Regnault de la Mothe did not give a direct answer. He pointed instead to the forecast, with conditions expected to become slightly less difficult. On Monday, he said, “we will have a little less wind, so we should have a lull.”

That leaves the Tour waiting on the authorities barely 24 hours before one of the most important stages of the opening week. Stage 3 is due to take the peloton over 3,850 metres of climbing, including the Col de Toses, Col du Calvaire and the final uphill finish to Les Angles.

The wildfire threat comes with the Tour already racing through intense heat. The opening weekend in Spain has been marked by high temperatures, while southern France has been dealing with heat and fire-risk alerts after a brutal early-summer heatwave.

French regional officials have also been told that Tour stages could be cancelled if a red heatwave alert is issued, according to pre-race reporting from Reuters. The immediate concern around stage 3, however, is the wildfire emergency, road access and the safety of residents, spectators, race traffic and emergency services in the Pyrenees-Orientales.

Les Angles itself is expected to be cooler than the lower start and valley sections because of altitude, but the department remains under pressure from heat, wind and fire risk. A mountain finish can only go ahead if the route, access roads and emergency operation can safely absorb the Tour’s convoy, crowds and race infrastructure.

Vingegaard began the race in yellow after Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s victory in the opening team time trial, with Pogacar already 12 seconds down after stage 1. Monday had been set up as the first real climbing test of the 2026 Tour. By Sunday afternoon, the bigger question was whether the stage would happen at all.

Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de France has been cleared to go ahead, but only in an adapted form and without spectators, after the wildfire emergency in southern France forced major restrictions on the race.

The stage is due to bring the first uphill finish of this year’s Tour in Les Angles, around 70 kilometres from the forest fires currently burning in the south of France. The fires have already destroyed around 1,500 hectares of woodland, prompting local authorities to review whether the race could safely continue as planned.

Pierre Regnault de la Mothe, prefect of the Pyrenees-Orientales region, had announced on Sunday afternoon that a decision would be taken by the end of the day. The stage will now go ahead, but with the publicity caravan removed on French territory and access limited to riders and essential race vehicles. “On French territory, the publicity caravan will not set off,” the latest update states. “The road will only be accessible to the riders and the vehicles necessary for the race to take place.”

Spectators have also been told not to gather along the route or in the finish area. “Spectators are asked not to position themselves along the route or in the finish area,” the update adds.

There is also growing concern around stage 4, which is scheduled to start in Carcassonne on Tuesday. The latest forecasts suggest temperatures there could climb as high as 41 degrees in the shade. If local authorities declare a red alert, racing would not be possible.

A document from the French Ministry of the Interior to local authorities, now circulating within the Tour caravan, states that a stage can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances if health or operational conditions no longer allow the safety of spectators and staff to be guaranteed, or if public emergency services cannot continue to function properly.

Tour organiser ASO has not yet issued an official response. Race director Christian Prudhomme said the situation is being monitored constantly and pointed to the existing heat protocol, which takes account of temperature, humidity and wind speed.

Stage 3 is therefore no longer under immediate threat of cancellation, but the Tour remains on alert as wildfires, emergency-service pressure and extreme heat continue to shape the opening days of the race.