Wildfires raged across southern Europe on Monday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting officials to ban spectators from a stage of the storied Tour de France cycling race.

Hundreds of firefighters battled forest infernos in France, Spain and Portugal today, where fires have devastated more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of land.

Wildfires across southern Europe forced thousands of people to flee their homes and prompted authorities to ban spectators from Monday's Tour de France stage that was threatened…