Stage 3 of the Tour de France will go ahead but has been adapted due to fires, and will take place on Monday without spectators in the French part of the finale, the department’s prefecture announced on Sunday.
After revealing that cancellation was a possibility for the stage from Granollers to the 2026 edition’s first trip to France in Les Angles due to ongoing fires in the Pyrénées-Orientales area, it was later confirmed that the stage would instead be adapted.
The changes will apply to the final 40km out of the planned 196-kilometre route, meaning fans who were planning to travel to the stage will miss out on the last two categorised climbs, the Col du Calvaire (11.4 km at 4.1%) and Les Angles (1.7 km at 6.5%).
“On French territory, the publicity caravan will not be traveling. Its presence will be limited to the passage of only the riders and vehicles essential to the organization of the race,” explained Prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe at a press conference, as reported by L’Equipe.
According to the French publication, he added that the public was “asked not to go near the route or to the finish area. In other words, and I regret having to announce this, it will be – at least in France – a stage of the Tour de France without spectators.”
More to come…
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