Tour De France Team Fined As Bus Blocks Finish

A team at the Tour De France has been fined 2,000 Swiss Francs (£1,400) after its bus blocked the finish line to the opening stage, leading to a chaotic finale.

Cyclists had been left battered and bruised after a huge crash which followed the Orica-GreenEdge vehicle getting wedged under the finish line banner.

Panicked officials had tried to free the bus after it got stuck just minutes before riders were to cross the line.

Organisers decided to move the finish line forward 3km so that riders would have a clear end to the stage, from Porto-Vecchio to Bastia on Corsica.

But then they told riders they had restored the original route because the bus, which had apparently taken a wrong turn, had finally moved on.

Moments after the announcement was relayed to cyclists, a huge crash happened in the suburbs in the town of Bastia, a few kilometres from the finish line.

The smash brought down dozens of riders including pre-race favourite Alberto Contador.

British cyclist Mark Cavendish saw his hopes of wearing the yellow jersey dashed as he was held up behind the crash, describing the situation as "carnage".

He said: "What caused the problems was the change to the finish.

"We were hearing in the radios with 5km to go the finish was in 2km. Then a kilometre later, it's at the finish.

"It's just carnage. I'm lucky I didn't come down. I was behind it. My team-mates were a lot worse. Tony Martin's in a bit of a state. I can count myself lucky."

Germany's Martin, Cavendish's team-mate at Omega Pharma-Quick Step, was among those who crashed and he was carried by stretcher into an ambulance.

He suffered from concussion, a contusion on his left lung, widespread bruising, and a deep cut on his left elbow.

Due to the confusion in the final moments of the race, all riders were awarded the same time for the stage.

German Marcel Kittel got the yellow jersey after picking his way through the fallen riders.

Organisers fined Orica-GreenEdge for "not respecting the timetable put in place for auxiliary team vehicles arriving at the stage finish".

A spokesman for the team earlier said on Twitter their bus driver had been following instructions when he ended up at the finish line.

"Joking aside, our bus driver is devastated," he wrote.

"He's an awesome guy and (unlike me) a great driver. He was being told to keep moving forward."