The third stage of the Tour de France to Les Angles will go ahead, despite the threat posed by wildfires ­raging in the eastern Pyrenees, but without spectators.“The setup will be limited to the passage of the riders only and the vehicles essential to organising the event,” Pierre Regnault de la Mothe, the prefect of the Eastern Pyrenees, said.The Tour’s popular publicity caravan will not be on the road in France and one of the key access routes for the convoy to the stage finish in Les Angles has also been closed.“The public is asked not to go near the route or to the finish area. I regret saying this but in France at least, it will be a stage of the Tour without spectators,” the prefect said.Christian Prudhomme, the Tour director, said that the decision was taken on Sunday afternoon. “We agreed, given the exceptional and frightening conditions of the fire, to limit the road to only the riders and essential organisation vehicles. We ask the public not to come to ­roadside or to the finish. All of this was done in agreement with the state authorities.”In the race itself, Tadej Pogacar exacted a quick revenge for defeat on Saturday, setting up his Mexican teammate Isaac del Toro for a jubilant debut stage win in Montjuic, while also taking back time on his rival and the overall race leader, Jonas Vingegaard.Pogacar and his 22-year-old teammate jumped for joy on the finish line and, although the overall lead Vingegaard established on Saturday remains intact, bonuses halved his advantage on the Slovenian to just six seconds.The four-time winner might ­easily have won himself, but dropped back to allow Del Toro to cross the line first, before the pair collapsed into each other’s arms. Vingegaard was one of those unsurprised by Pogacar’s generosity.“Tadej’s a great guy and it’s very generous of him to give a stage win to a teammate,” Vingegaard said, “but then Isaac deserves it. He’s a super‑big talent and very strong. “The Mexican’s downhill ­cornering into the final bend was that of a MotoGP rider and gave him an ­immediate advantage. Pogacar, marked closely by Vingegaard, then ushered him forward, through the last few metres to victory.As Pogacar reasserted himself, it was another challenging afternoon for 19-year-old Paul Seixas who, after losing 40 seconds on Saturday, endured a puncture, was almost taken out by one of the Tour’s ­official cars, and then lost a further three ­seconds overall.Isaac del Toro shows his delight after winning the second stage. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPAThe anticipation of a further battle between Pogacar and Vingegaard in the Spanish Pyrenees has now been dampened by the wildfire crisis, even if the third stage will still go ahead.Nearly 600 French firefighters have been mobilised to contain the wildfire, about 36 kilometres from Perpignan. Le Monde also reported that roads had been closed and emergency shelters opened for those forced to flee their homes.Pressure is now growing on the Tour organisation to face up to the reality of searing temperatures and the increased risks posed to riders and fans. That pressure intensified after the French government last week gave permission to regional authorities to cancel or adapt stages if necessary. Nobody, however, expected that it might be enacted quite so soon.Pascal Chanteur, the president of the riders’ union, which has been lobbying for much earlier stage starts due to higher summer tem­peratures, said: “It’s better to change the start times than to risk cancelling a stage.”However, the Tour continues to insist that adequate provision has been made to protect the riders, with extra drink supplies and extended feed zones, even if the greater ­concern given that fatalities in France increased by more than 2,000 ­during June’s heatwave is one of public health. “That’s managed by the authorities,” the race technical director, Thierry Gouvenou, said. “That’s their domain. That’s for the state to decide.”Chanteur, who is lobbying for changes to be made prior to the 2027 Tour, is one of many who now believe that moving to earlier start times is an inevitability. “All the experts on climate change say the same thing. It has to happen.”However, there will be no changes made this July. “This year it’s complicated, but changing the start times is something to look at for the long-term,” Gouvenou said. “It’s not possible this year because everything is already in place.”For now at least, the Tour just has to adapt.