Controlled Explosion At Olympic Road Race

A controlled explosion took place on an unattended bag during an Olympic men's road race that brought heartache for Team GB riders including Chris Froome.

A bomb squad destroyed the backpack near the finish line of the 237.5km race, which continued without disruption.

Several hours later Froome and fellow Team GB medal hope Geraint Thomas crossed the finishing line out of contention - the latter suffered a crash in the closing stages. 

A Rio 2016 spokesman confirmed the explosion had taken place: "The security services found a suspicious package close to the cycle road race finish line in Copacabana and as a precaution decided to perform a controlled explosion. There is no impact to the race."

Chris Froome (L) and three other Team GB riders at the start of the road race

Sky News' Paul Kelso said he heard a "very loud bang" from behind a grandstand.

One theory is the bag belonged to a homeless man.

The incident comes on what has been a shambolic opening day of the Olympics proper, with spectators queuing for hours and some missing events altogether.

Several events were played out in front of eerily empty stands.

"We apologise for everybody standing in line outside the venues," Games spokesman Mario Andrada told reporters.

"We need to upgrade that part of the Games. We moved people from Rio 2016 (organisation) to speed up the mag and bag (security checks) and within the next hours we will be in much better shape."

There have also been reports of a military bullet coming through the roof of the equestrian centre. It reportedly landed at the feet of a photographer.

Another incident saw spectators leaving Friday's opening ceremony confronted by the body of a man shot dead near the Maracana Stadium.

Multiple gunshots were heard earlier by photographers from The Associated Press and a shooter was seen running from the scene before fleeing in a car.

Twelve gold medals will be awarded on Saturday - the first being claimed by American teenager Virginia Thrasher in the shooting. There have been no medals for Team GB yet, but Adam Peaty set a new world-record of 57.55 seconds in the 100 metres breaststroke heats.