>>99505 >When we compare the route schedule with the current hotspots, the severity of the situation becomes clear. Stage 3 is scheduled for Monday, July 6, from Granollers to Les Angles. This is the first Pyrenees stage and the border crossing into France. The riders will finish in Les Angles in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
>Just a few dozen kilometers further east, on the Costa Brava around Platja d'Aro and Calonge, a lockdown is currently in effect for 50,000 people due to a severe forest fire. The smoke threatens to drift across the course due to the wind.
>Stage 4 follows on Tuesday, July 7, from Carcassonne to Foix. That stage passes straight through the Occitanie region, the absolute epicenter of the French drought. Fires have also broken out right next to the route, in the Béziers and Perpignan region. Local authorities there have completely closed off major roads such as the D5, D11, and the coastal road D81. Thousands of campers have already been evacuated.