Dutch police have changed their plans to disrupt Sunday’s Tour de France stage from Utrecht to Zeeland and say they will no longer hold up the race.

Instead, police unions say they will have a visible presence as the riders leave the city and will hang banners in support of their pay claim from the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam.

An injunction to stop the police action, which should have been heard in court on Thursday, has now been withdrawn.

The compromise was reached in talks between police unions and Rotterdam city council officials. At a press conference on Thursday, Rotterdam mayor Achmed Aboutaleb called on the government to work constructively to solve the police pay issues.

Police unions are demanding a 3.3% pay rise to end a four-year pay freeze as well as measures to enable older police officers to retire before the age of 67 and compensation for the effect of the recent major reorganisation of policing operations.

The three-week Tour starts on July 4 with an individual time trial in Utrecht, when record temperatures are expected. It passes through Rotterdam the following day.