Apparently the problem with the bus happened because it arrived late. The banner had been higher earlier in the day.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/...rst-day_292623

I think this is the strangest thing I've ever seen at a sporting event. Also it's a great argument in favor of allowing riders to use race radios. Imagine if they had not been able to move the bus and also were not able to notify the riders what was going on. Telling them the finish line was being moved up (and then saying "never mind") certainly caused problems, but it would have been a disaster if they had come barreling down the finishing straight only to find a bus in the way.