The ASO, Tour de France race organisers, have confirmed a fan at the roadside caused the 1km to go banner to collapse on stage seven of the Tour de France.

"A spectator came too close to the structure and with his belt he caught it on the cable," ASO's Philippe Sudres told Cyclingnews, confirming the event was not an act of sabotage.

"The cable attached the generator that powered the arch, the inflatable. We know that from a witness who was there and who talked to the police. We will reinforce the security around the structure so that this doesn't happen again. In maybe ten to fifteen years something like this has never happened. It was an accident, not someone looking to break it."

Race director and head of the ASO Christian Prudhomme issued a public apology to Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange, the rider who the flamme rouge collapsed on.

“I just wanted to say sorry and to shake hands with him,” Prudhomme after coming off the team bus before stage eight began. “I didn’t have time beforehand yesterday.”

Yates was keen to thank the race director for his apology and says there was nothing the ASO did wrong, it was just his bad luck he was the rider to be caught.

“[Prudhomme] just apologised for what happened,” Yates said. “It’s not his fault, but just my bad luck, that’s all there is to it. Fair play for him to him for doing that.”