Tour de France third stage faces cancellation over French wildfires

A forest fire ravaging southwest France is threatening the cancellation of Monday’s Tour de France third stage, which is scheduled to finish 60 kilometres from the blaze in Les Angles.

Local authorities are expected to make a final decision on whether the racing will proceed before the end of Sunday.

Race director Christian Prudhomme has suggested that the route could be adapted if the extreme situation demands it.

Emergency services battle advancing blaze

Approximately 750 firefighters and nine water-bombing aircraft have been deployed to contain the rapidly spreading front line in the Pyrenees-Orientales department.

Two individuals, including one emergency responder and a local resident, remain in a critical condition following the devastating outbreak.

Crews are desperately hoping to prevent the inferno from spreading south towards the Tet river and the largely inaccessible Aspres mountainous region.

Extreme heat disrupts opening weekend

Unforgiving temperatures and severe weather events have already cast a long shadow over the opening weekend of cycling’s most prestigious Grand Tour.

Seven departments across the south of the host nation were classified as carrying a very high fire risk by meteorological agencies over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a separate wildfire that scorched 2,200 hectares of forest in the Catalonia region of Spain, where the opening two stages were held, has now been stabilised.

Spanish authorities arrested a suspect on Friday after sparks from a circular saw reportedly ignited that destructive coastal blaze.