People try to have nice things in this world. They really do.
They set up big, elaborate races, outfit them with police protection and thousands of miles of barriers and signage. And then some jabroni and his floppy belt ruins it all.
This is what happened during Friday's Stage 7 of the Tour de France, when, in the very final kilometer of racing, an accident involving a spectator caused the entire field to come to standstill.
According to CyclingNews.com's Daniel Benson, a fan accidentally unplugged the giant, inflatable banner signaling the last kilometer to the finish line, which fell onto Orica-BikeExchange climber Adam Yates.
Never seen this in 30 years of watching the #tdf: 1km to go banner deflates, falls on cyclists pic.twitter.com/4Gq1PDHblk
— Greg Emerson (@emersongreg) July 8, 2016
A giant inflatable banner collapsed on the Tour de France and ensnared a bunch of cyclists https://t.co/XcBAnmXMJX pic.twitter.com/RSquZECVFz
— sunny leone (@sunnyleaone55) July 8, 2016
The awkward moment when the Flamme Rouge falls down. #TDF2016 pic.twitter.com/I9368DclcO
— Cycling Weekly (@cyclingweekly) July 8, 2016
Cummings sustained injuries to his chin requiring four stitches, and most of the field had to stop and climb over or under the structure as police officers attempted to help.
The incident appears to be the result of a spectator accidentally unplugging the generator inflating the arch.
"A spectator came too close to the structure and with his belt he caught it on the cable," said Amaury Sport Organisation's Philippe Sudres. "The cable powered the generator that powered the arch, the inflatable. We know that from a witness who was there and who talked to the police."
The race leaders would end the stage together and were given identical times, so the overall GC competition was not affected the incident.
But, again: this is why we can't have anything nice, ever.
Dan is on Twitter. Jabronis: the leading cause of all of Earth's avoidable turmoil.
