Bus Crashes Into Finish Line Banner At Tour De France

The Orica-GreenEDGE team bus crashed into the finish line banner during today's opening stage of the Tour de France, forcing a frantic attempt to unhook the bus from a banner before the cyclists reached the finish line.

That attempt would prove successful, eventually, but tour organizers pushed up the finish line before reverting it to the original line, producing confusion about the results of the race for even the tour's officials. Update: The damage caused by the crash also impacted the finish timing system, delaying results.

Also, this is a very, very funny picture:

100th #TdF in disarray on day 1. Team bus is blocking finish as race approaches end. Can't be moved in time. pic.twitter.com/6W8jvHXT3q

— Neal Karlinsky (@NealKarlinsky) June 29, 2013

Update: Here's video of the chaos of the removal attempt. Please note how distraught the bus driver is.

[NBC Sports]